Clash of the also-rans!
The Rays have fallen even harder than the Blue Jays, who are just 4.5 games behind them. (Hey, the Jays finished 10 games back of them a year ago! Progress!) It's happened on both sides of the ball, of course, but what's happened to their offence is especially dramatic. Only Texas scored more runs than the 2023 Rays. This year, only the A's and White Sox score fewer.
That's right - the Blue Jays are scoring more often than the Tampa Bay Rays.
What happened? It's almost entirely the same group swinging the bats, with the obvious exception of Wander Franco being replaced by Jose Caballero. Brandon Lowe and Isaac Paredes have been just fine. Yandy Diaz has come crashing down to earth, but last year was obviously a bit of a fluke. It's mostly been a case of the outfield and DH spots, which had all been quite productive a year ago, all going bad together.
Josh Lowe hit .292/.335/.500 with 20 HRs a year ago; this year it's .216/.280/.373 with just 5 HRs. Randy Arozarena hit .254/.364/.425 with 23 HRs last year; this year it's .211/.313/.395 with 15 HRs. Jose Siri's 25 HRs helped make up for the rest of his line, .222/.267/.494; everything's off for him as well (.207/.281/.411 with 14 HRs.) Harold Ramirez hit nothing but singles for two months (seriously - he had 44 hits, and 40 were singles) before getting DFA'd - he's in Washington now.
On the other side of the ball - the run prevention was elite a year ago, essentially on a par with Seattle and Minnesota, as good as any team in the league. This year it's been a little below average. Well, Tyler Glasnow is a Dodger and Shane McClanahan is recovering from Tommy John surgery. Zach Eflin was pretty good a year ago (16-8, 3.50) - this year, not so much (5-7, 4.14). Aaron Civale didn't work out at all, and is now a Brewer.
The Rays have recalled LH Tyler Alexander (2-3, 6.19) to pitch tonight. once they've got an inning or two out of the Opener. Eflin goes tomorrow, and on Thursday afternoon we'll see Taj Bradley, the one Tampa Bay starter who hasn't been a disappointment.
Matchups
Tue 23 July - Armstrong (2-2, 5.91) vs Berrios (8-7, 4.01)
Wed 24 July - Eflin (5-7, 4.14) vs Rodriguez (1-3, 3.78)
Thu 25 July - Bradley (5-4, 2.63) vs Bassitt (8-8, 3.71)
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20240723154336460