00:00some of these teams that are doing a lot of damage early in the season that maybe
00:03the odds makers didn't expect a lot from and we're going to start right in the AL East you
00:07would think it's the Yankees or the Boston Red Sox in first place right now close behind them
00:11maybe Toronto it's the Tampa Bay Rays a team coming into the season pick dead last in the
00:16division Craig playing unbelievable baseball heading into this weekend's action 34 and 15
00:22handling their business against teams above 500 which is what you're supposed to do but
00:26who would think that in close games of course it's the Tampa Bay Rays getting the best of you
00:31using a million guys out of the bullpen throwing hundreds of miles per hour nine and one in that
00:37outperforming their expected win total here Craig this is one of those topics we're going to continue
00:41to talk about because as Craig started the show it's no longer the first two or three weeks where
00:45you're surprised in the major league baseball season 34 and 15 this club's for real yeah absolutely for
00:52real now what I would say is that regardless of the way that things go this year for Tampa Bay
00:57you
00:58always have to file those one run records for the next year because generally speaking they don't come
01:03into play as much so for example they're nine and one this year let's say they figure out Donnie 26
01:10and
01:10five or something like that next year usually that tide would turn because even the Rays if you look at
01:16their bullpen last year certainly not as good as this year bullpens are very fickle but you're
01:21absolutely right they have guys at the back end that don't just throw hard Donnie they have these
01:27sweepers and these sliders that just basically you don't know what's coming at any point they're not
01:32household names that they have but this is what happens is they build household names at the
01:37Tropicana Field and then they go somewhere else and then they're not as good so I think it's a great
01:41point that you bring up they're just trying to get through six innings and make it through but they do
01:45have a couple of superstars on this team one of them of course is Junior Caminero we thought his
01:50numbers may come down a little bit from last year because they're not playing outside anymore that
01:54definitely has been the case but then on the flip side they sign Nick Martinez Shane McClanahan comes
01:58back they're both having great years I think the Rays will be in the postseason but Donnie without
02:04sort of adding some significant players to this team at the trade deadline yeah the unfortunate part
02:10about this is that they probably can win a playoff series maybe they can get to the American League
02:14Championship Series but then at some point you do have to slug in the playoffs to win and the Rays
02:19are not going to have enough as currently built but they certainly are going to win a lot of regular
02:23season games I would expect this to continue a couple guys in the middle of that lineup absolutely
02:27mashing that weighted runs created plus your 140 for Junior Caminero 128 for Jonathan Arandon Yandy Diaz
02:33at a 149 that's incredible but if we can bring that graphic up one more time quickly you saw one
02:38of the
02:38mainstays there Craig is last year on the heat and humidity they're back to the trop and you say well
02:42how is it treating them how about a 19 and 5 record at home Craig I mean that's handling your
02:47business at home in one of the more quirky environments in Major League Baseball that
02:51they're used to yeah they're doing a lot of bunting they're doing a lot of moving guys over I mean
02:55this
02:56is uh you know so it's like when everybody zigs the Rays sort of zag and they're like all right
03:00everybody wants to hit a home run we'll just start bunting when everybody wants to get uh bullpen guys in
03:05seventh eighth and ninth now we'll start letting our guys go deeper into the game they just really have
03:09development figured out and uh did have a key injury around the Memorial Day holiday uh Johnny
03:14DeLuca we'll have to keep an eye on that he's a very prominent player for them especially in his
03:18left-handed pitching but they've banked Donnie so many wins at this point if the Rays just play
03:23500 ball the rest of the season they're in the postseason incredible absolutely incredible it's
03:27just what they do even when you look at that roster coming in a couple superstar players yes but the
03:31raw how everybody's gonna have to have career years it's always Tampa Bay in the same spots no
03:35no longer luck at this point here
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