With their 9-7 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night, the Tampa Bay Rays became just the third team to win 12 straight games to open a baseball season since the dead-ball era more than a century ago. With one more win, the Rays will tie the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers and the 1982 Atlanta Braves as the only teams to begin a season with 13 consecutive victories since the 1880s.
The winning streak is the latest achievement for a team known for their modest payrolls, sparse attendance and excellent organizational development. Early adopters of the advanced analytic strategies that dominate contemporary baseball, the Rays have made the postseason for six years in a row despite playing in the same division as the famously deep-pocketed New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
In two of those six playoff seasons, the Rays had the lowest payroll of any team in the majors. In 2023, they have the third-lowest payroll of 30 teams and aren’t paying any player more than $11m this year, which is tied for the 127th-highest salary. The New York Mets – a team with a $344m payroll – have 11 players earning more than the Rays’ highest-paid player, pitcher Zach Eflin.
Even if the Rays have 150 scheduled regular-season games remaining, their phenomenal start should help their quest for a seventh straight playoff appearance. Of the seven teams to start a season with at least 10 consecutive wins, only one of them failed to finish with a winning record (the 1966 Cleveland Indians, who finished 81-81). Not bad for a club that most prognosticators tabbed for no higher than third place in the American League East behind the Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.
Not only are the Rays winning, they’re dominating their opponents. Here is how.
Is it their hitting?
It’s a big part of it. The Rays are not typically known for their power, but it’s been one of their biggest assets to start the season. After ranking 25th out of 30 teams in home runs last season, the Rays have hit an astonishing 30 in 12 games to start 2023. Entering Tuesday’s game, they were tied for the most home runs that any team had hit in their first 11 games.
The power has helped make their 12 wins mostly comfortable ones since 10 of them have been by at least four runs. Their 92 runs over 12 games are the most in the major leagues and they’ve scored 65 more runs than their opponents. The team with the second-best run differential in baseball, the Yankees, have scored 28 more runs than their opponents.
Almost the entire roster is hitting well, but Brandon Lowe, Yandy Díaz and Wander Franco have been especially good. Lowe and Franco have combined for eight home runs (the Rays are one of two teams to have two players with at least four runs), while Díaz is among baseball’s league leaders with 12 runs scored. Outfielder Randy Arozarena, whose phenomenal defense and lively style of play made him a fan favorite during the World Baseball Classic in March, leads the team with 15 runs batted in. Entering Tuesday night’s game, they were the only team to have 10 players with at least two homers. Right now, every player in their lineup is a threat.
How about the pitching?
It’s arguably been better than the offense. The Rays have already shut out their opponents four times this season. Last season, the Washington Nationals logged four shutouts over the entire 162-game season. Maybe more impressive than the 29 homers they’ve hit is the mere four home runs that the pitching staff has conceded, another category where Tampa Bay leads all of baseball.
The staff has also allowed the fewest hits and runs per game of any team. Two of their starting pitchers (Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs) have yet to allow a run this season. Rasmussen hasn’t even walked a batter and has surrendered just three total baserunners over 13 innings pitched. Entering Wednesday night, the staff’s earned run average was at 1.74, which, again, is best in the majors. Defensively, the team is ranked highest in the defensive efficiency metric, according to the website Baseball-Reference.com.
Any caveats to this streak?
To be fair, nine of the Rays’ 12 wins have come against the Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers, all of whom are expected to be among the worst teams in baseball this season. Sean Zerillo of the Action Network noted that even before the season, the Rays had about a 33% chance to begin the season 9-0.
Even so, the Rays’ start to the 2023 season is nothing short of historic and portends their likelihood as a contender for the World Series come October.
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