Tampa Bay Rays Page 8 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Rays are at it again
The Tampa Bay Rays once again ducked having to pay a player some serious money when they shipped Austin Meadows off to Detroit for Isaac Peredes. Meadows is still some three years from free agency, but the Rays are probably fearing that second arbitration year like Baba Yaga. I mean, Meadows might m...
Don’t pull a muscle patting the Rays on the back
There’s obviously been a rush in the aftermath of the Tampa Bay Rays signing Wander Franco to a deal that could be worth as much as $223 million and keep him in Tampa for 12 years, according to reports. The 20-year-old star will get a serious upgrade on what he would have made the next three years w...
The Rays keep on winning due to their financial situation, not despite it
The most fascinating aspect about the Tampa Bay Rays competing and winning in the AL East — Kevin Cash repeated as AL manager of the year, and Randy Arozarena took home rookie of the year honors this week — is how they do it not despite their financial shortfalls but almost with the help of them....
A few MLB postseason storylines you might not know
As the baseball playoffs begin, you already know the big storylines....
Rays playing 5D chess up in here
Analytics have taken over the world of baseball. Depending on who you ask, you’ll get one of three responses:...
Nelson Cruz can absolutely still rake
Last night, we had our first big name dealt ahead of the MLB trade deadline on July 30. Twins’ slugger c was sent to the Tampa Bay Rays along with pitcher Calvin Faucher in exchange for two of the Rays’ top-20 prospects. Nelson Cruz is one of the biggest bats in baseball. Since 2010, no hitter has m...
What does Major League Baseball have against the Rays?
I swear, the Tampa Bay Rays are the Rodney Dangerfield of Major League Baseball — they get no respect. And I don’t get it. I just don’t. What do the Rays have to do in order to earn some praise for what they’ve done? Win an AL pennant? Nope, not good enough. MLB gave the Rays just an 18.6 percent ch...
Tampa Bay doesn’t deserve to have an MLB team
Let’s call it Exhibit A....
Kevin Cash broke baseball, or baseball broke him, take your pick with the pitching change that will haunt Rays for years
There is no winning the argument. Having the argument is probably the point. It’s been dominating baseball for the past 20 years. What the spreadsheets say, what baseball logic says....
Let’s call it what it was: Another epic Dodgers’ October choke job
ARLINGTON, Texas — Epic, indeed....
World Series sure was fun last night, but good baseball it wasn't
Game 4 of the World Series had barely ended on Saturday night when the hyperbole hit, courtesy of Red Sox writer Ian Browne....
Dave Roberts still thinks he’s playing Strat-O-Matic
I have to credit Joe Sheehan, who has been using that metaphor for a long while now. Anyway, one of the problems with Dave Roberts as manager, at least in the playoffs, is he just assumes he’ll get production from the back of the baseball card simply because. Mostly, if not solely, this has been the...
Maybe the Rays needed to use the itchier trigger finger in Game 1
The Tampa Bay Rays don’t wait around. They are even less likely to wait around when their bullpen has had two full days off and all their starters will be on regular rest. For a few years they’ve had an organizational plan, which means they go to the pen when they want, which is usually quickly. And...
Dodgers and Rays are like mirror images of each other ... sorta
It’s tired as shit, and if you’ve spent more than six consecutive minutes on Twitter you’ve already seen the two Spider-men pointing at each other at least 14 times. And yet, these types of things tend to be borne out of truth before they approach and then surpass the saturation point....
The villainy doesn’t end with the Astros
There was a visceral joy in watching the Rays, on their fourth attempt, finally put the Astros to the sword last night. ...
Yellow-bellied Game 7 starter for Rays seeks to exorcise Astros demons he had hoped stayed hidden
Charlie Morton has proven himself as a big-game pitcher in the past. It was just three years ago that Morton started Game 7 of the ALCS and got the win with five innings of two-out shutout ball. Ten days later, he came out of the bullpen to pitch the final four innings of Game 7 of the World Series,...
Like a Rorschach test, you can see whatever you want in the art of Dodgers collapses
For the past five years or so, the Dodgers have carried just about the same narrative. Or the same narratives, and eventually it’ll probably reach the same level of undying debate that LeBron v. Michael has. Either Clayton Kershaw is a playoff mess, or Dave Roberts constantly has a stiff breeze whis...
Astros getting good wood, but keep finding Rays' gloves at the other end of their ropes
Heading into the ALCS, it felt like the series would hinge on whether the Astros’ high-contact ways would be able to undo the Rays’ dominant starting pitching and bullpen. Would they find enough holes, or work their way through the Rays’ staff to eventually see them weaken through sheer attrition? T...