Welcome back to Rays Reacts, which was a little light in the vote tally this time around! I know it’s summer, but I do encourage all to vote. We have them cross-posted to The Feed on the front page now, so please do not hesitate to make your way over an vote.
Last week we asked about the rotation confidence, so this week I took a step farther back and asked about your biggest worry generally. The answer was timely!
The Rays did not dominate the homestand this time around, losing by four+ runs in two of three to Balitmore, and putting up only two runs on Sunday on their way to a 2-5 W-L over seven games. But the Rays were battling, splitting the four games decided by one run.
If you think that means the Rays have a bad offense, the data hasn’t really backed it up. Since August 1 the Rays have a third best offense in baseball with a 114 wRC+, with an MLB best .282 AVG, fourth best .338 OBP, and sixth best .432 SLG, while also leading MLB with 24 steals, second overall in runs scored (97), and despite the reputation for small ball, a ninth highest tally of 23 HR. You can imagine all of those numbers improve if you make that ranking AL-only.
Given that the Rays are heating up at the plate, its reasonable to be concerned the team might be peaking too early and cool down in September, but thus far all signs point to a Rays offense that is clicking — particularly after the added protection of Liam Hicks.
If you enjoy staying dialed into the offense, you can consider some prop bets regarding the Rays offense at FanDuel, who sponsored this post.
