Rays Falling Way Short Of Expectations

There are 162 games during the regular season of baseball and we are only seven weeks in. There is always a lot to talk about but you never want to start counting teams out too early, but in the case of the Tampa Bay Rays, they have to start making some moves soon.

It is too early to completely count out any team, of course. That is especially true of the Tampa Bay Rays. Back in 2011, many had counted out the Rays only to see them rise to the top in September. Despite, their history of comebacks it is becoming increasingly hard not to get down on the Rays.

Tampa Bay has an 18-24 record. The only team they are better than is the Houston Astros, the worse team in the American League. At this point in the season over 85 percent of playoff teams over the last six years had at least a .500 winning percentage.

The obvious reason for the Rays woes is health. Alex Cobb, Ben Zobrist, Jeremy Hellickson and Matt Moore are all out with injury. Cobb is slated to return soon but as July approaches, the Rays will feel some major pressure to make some trade, particularly from top tier players who were expecting to win this season.

To reiterate for clarity, we cannot completely count out the Rays yet, but they are among the worst teams in the MLB. Considering they were predicted to be big time contenders this season, it is a dismal fall from grace to say the least.

Then again nothing is really turning out as predicted in the AL. Boston has begun to slip, the Twins dominant early season run didn’t last and the Indians, who should be as good as they were last year, is in last place in their division. Perhaps we should start saving all of our predictions for mid-season when they can become more of educated guesses. But then again, where is the fun in that.