Confirmed
Conf
Good pitching always has a way of turning an average team into an overachiever. That's how the Tampa Bay Rays' lineup produced in 2019. When you keep other fellows from crossing the plate very often, you automatically improve your chances in the game of baseball. Historically, Tampa Bay has done exactly that; limit runs scored against them. Now, to achieve the success they had around a decade previously, they still need to plate a few runs to win more games.
As evidence, the Rays have a high-point .288 batting average in their projected batting order. They added some power after their cleanup hitter, but they still have four hitters that strike out at the league average or above. Two young pitchers slotted into their top-five rotation and the return to form of a former Cy Young winner are keys for how much pressure the Rays can put on the
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Game | Score | Starting Pitcher | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
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10/26 vs LAD | L 2-4 |
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10/25 vs LAD | W 8-7 |
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10/24 vs LAD | L 2-6 |
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10/22 @ LAD | W 6-4 |
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10/21 @ LAD | L 3-8 |
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Contents
Tampa Bay is expected to challenge for the division, and they have a lineup constructed to do just that. Now the Rays are a team that will never have household names, but they are deep and can beat you in various ways. They traded away Tommy Pham for Hunter Renfroe over the offseason, and he will jump right into the starting lineup as a right-handed power bat. They have a few of those with Jose Martinez and Mike Zunino also hitting in the lineup. While the
Willy Adames is one of the top prospects in the Tampa Bay organization and is the everyday shortstop now. Adames is just 23 years old and is coming off of a 20 home run season.
Tampa Bay is a team loaded with talent, and they will be rotating players in and out of the DH role. Jose Martinez stands a chance to dominate starts the most, but they have names like Nate Lowe, Manuel Margot, and Yandy Diaz.
Jose Martinez is a rotating piece in the Tampa Bay order. He came over from St. Louis this offseason and will be in and out of the lineup due to the depth and management style of the Rays.
The 2010 Tampa Bay Rays would go onto win the AL East, winning 96 games. They put up over 800 runs on offense, but the pitching dominated, as they limited teams to just 649 runs.
The 2002 Tampa Bay Rays lost 106 games and finished 48 games out of first place. Their pitching staff was among one of the worst in baseball, allowing over 900 runs. They also scored just 673.
The Rays haven’t been around forever, but the most games played belongs to Evan Longoria. He played ten years with the team and 1,435 games. He hit 261 home runs during his time in Tampa.