Tampa Bay Rays' Impressive Season: Analysis & Outlook

It does look like Tampa is about to close out the athletics are in the top of the ninth eight four in that one I do believe this will be a Nine and all West Coast trip if they win this one. They'll head home Friday they'll start a home series then but yeah They I don't think anybody's done a better job of beating sub 500 teams than the Tampa Bay Rays this year Tom And I guess that is really Gotta be the question. Do you believe that? Yes, Tampa's won the games. They're supposed to win But are we buying that that's good enough to win the games. They're not supposed to win at times here That's that's a big question. You know the Rays overperforming and beating preseason expectations by so much They're they're unbelievable at home as we just saw they are constantly getting good pitching performances They are putting up runs when they need to they can win low scoring games They've agreed back into the bullpen with Brian Baker like they kind of check off all the boxes that you possibly want the question becomes is When they have to go on the road in a postseason series, how much can we trust them? You know, what if the hitting died on a little bit? What if they lose a game at home because they're great at home They're obviously not, you know Perfect at home, but if they were to host a you know series and they lose one of those games Does that set them up to fail? So that's really the question about the Rays because if they are truly the class of the AL They're gonna have home field advantage throughout and you're getting them at was the Yanks of the favorite right now That's just again a risk thing for the book But you get to raise that great price to win the AL knowing that they've home field the entire time Yeah, I that I and it's I think remains to be seen right time It looks but it really does feel like it remains to be seen here and I got to play the Believe it when I see it card. There's no reason for them not to I do think obviously they've done With half the payroll what teams only wish they can do there, but they were so good 41 and 18 at home this year but you gotta get this schedule really played into their hands Tom and even when they go out west here and You start beating up the Seattle's of the world and the athletics of the world, you know, the the remaining schedule is It's kind of favorable here. There's not a lot except for a you know, a series against the Yankees here in Boston but I think we're gonna learn a little something over the next, you know, four to six weeks to see whether they can be a Contender or a pretender and I'm talking about not just in the American League pennant, but can they win it all Tom? Is that even can you look at them and go? Yes, they got the pitching though. They're hitting they got the bullpen Can they get it done and you know run the table that remains to be seen for me Mmm, I would say the same. I frankly I still think I'm taking the Braves in a series straight up over the race Yeah, so I put the raise like okay. We want to put the Dodgers in the top tier. That's fine It really comes down to who's that next year and to me it's comprised of let's call it in order the Braves the Brewers the Rays the Yankees the Phillies in that order specific Yeah, so I think they're they're in that second class But I'm not sure they have enough to beat the Dodgers and again if they run a little bit cold in the postseason They have to run into the Yankees or even a red-hot Red Sox team that could spell trouble for them Yep big time and yeah, and we're gonna you know, we're gonna see here I do think home field will matter for them if they can continue to run the table and grab that but you know I'm hearing Stanton now is a week away from from also Getting back into the rehab situation there. We know judge and the light work Best case scenario. They're back when Tom September Yeah Yes down Stanton Belanger judge apparently is the order that they'll return and I think it's gonna be September 15th if they can all be back by September 15th. Let's call it a month from now. They can all be back I think you start off judge as just the DH. You don't have him playing the field You don't want to stress things too much and then as the final week of the season goes on he'd ramp up on field He plays a game or two in the outfield and then you'd be ready to roll And that's what makes the Yankees dangerous. Is that if they have a postseason as they did Two years ago when judges Stanton were hitting a million home runs That's something that most teams can't keep up with and the fact that the Yankees have top-tier pitching and yeah You know one of the best pitching staffs and have you know Three game one starters essentially that you could be throwing out there between Fried Schlittler and Cole knowing that you could still bring in someone like Will Warren or Carlos Rodon and bring them out of the bullpen in a series and still get four innings out of those guys