Apr 1, 2014; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria (3) on deck against the Toronto Blue Jays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
It is still early in the season, but this has been an ugly stretch of baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays. The 10 game road trip started off on a sour note, as the Rays lost to the Chicago White Sox on rookie Jose Abreu’s walk-off grand slam. That set the tone of the rest of the series, as the Sox were able to take 3 of 4 from the Rays, who have now lost 5 of their last 6 games. The road trip continues with a visit up to Boston to take on the Red Sox, though the Rays have not played well away from Tropicana Field, having lost six of their last seven road games. Surprisingly, this series pits the two teams in the AL East cellar against each other, as both teams find themselves looking up at the division leading New York Yankees.
Even with the early season woes, the AL East remains a wide open division, with every team separated by 4 games or less. Baseball Prospectus still gives the Rays over a 20% chance of winning the division, though the Yankees remain the prohibitive favorite at this point with almost a 40% chance. Overall, the Rays have a 39.6% chance of making the playoffs and a 4.9% chance to win the World Series. Yes their odds have dropped almost 13% in the past week, but that doesn’t prohibit the Rays from flipping the script over the next seven days.
In an effort to mix up the mojo around here, we aren’t going to make any analysis or predictions, but instead, we’ll list one thing that needs to happen for the Rays to win.
Series Preview:
Game 1: Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox
Tuesday, April 29th @ 7:10 p.m. EST
TV: Sun Sports, MLB Network
Radio: WDAE 620 AM /95.3 FM, WGES 680 (Sp.)
Erik Bedard (0-1, 7.45 ERA/4.02 FIP) vs. John Lackey (3-2, 4.22 ERA/3.65 FIP )
Rays Win If…you see John Lackey doing this:
Game 2: Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox
Wednesday, April 30th @ 7:10 p.m. EST
TV: Sun Sports, ESPN
Radio: WDAE 620 AM /95.3 FM, WGES 680 (Sp.)
Chris Archer (2-1, 4.11 ERA/2.37 FIP) vs. Felix Doubront (1-3, 6.00 ERA/4.88 FIP )
Rays Win If…Wil Myers does this:
Game 3: Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox
Thursday, May 1st @ 7:10 p.m. EST
TV: Sun Sports, MLB Network
Radio: WDAE 620 AM /95.3 FM, WGES 680 (Sp.)
Cesar Ramos (1-1, 3.38 ERA/4.34 FIP) vs. Jake Peavy (1-0, 2.87 ERA/4.65 FIP )
Rays Win If…something like this happens:
For more information on the upcoming series, visit the Fansided team pages for the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox. Also be sure to check out the great Q&A Conor Duffy and Robbie Knopf.
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