The Tampa Bay Rays have won back to back AL East division crowns. The Rays accomplished this with defeating their intrastate rival Miami Marlins 7-2 after the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 5-3.
Although the Rays are the defending AL champions, the 2021 edition might be the best ever and are four victories away from having a 100 win season for the first time in franchise history. They only need two more wins to eclipse the 97 victories the team won under Joe Maddon en route to their first AL pennant in 2008.
The Rays got off to a slow start having a sub-.500 April ending the month only a half game ahead of the Baltimore Orioles (who now have 105 losses and counting). Tampa would climb into first place on May 24th on the strength of an 11 game winning streak. The Rays would cede control of the division to the Boston Red Sox in late June but took over top spot in the AL East for good on July 31st.
This team has some boppers with the likes of Austin Meadows, Mike Zunino, Brendan Lowe as well as Nelson Cruz who was acquired from the Minnesota Twins during the trade deadline. There's always the Gold Glove caliber Kevin Kiermaier in center field. But more often than not the Rays have constant change in the cast and keep winning. Hell, they traded their closer Diego Castillo at the trade deadline and haven't missed a beat. This team relies on analytics. Of course, this cost them dearly when manager Kevin Cash took out Blake Snell during Game 6 of the World Series with the Dodgers pouncing on their pen. But they show no sign of deviating from the program.
The Rays will most likely face an AL East division rival in the ALDS. As of this writing, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox would face off in the AL Wild Card match up with identical records. The Toronto Blue Jays are 2.5 games off the pace along with the Seattle Mariners while the Oakland A's are four games back and running out of time.
Tampa Bay's triumph comes only 48 hours after the Chicago White Sox clinched the AL Central. The Houston Astros could clinch the AL West tomorrow if the Seattle Mariners lose tonight to the Los Angeles Angels.
The Rays make the most out of its money. They have the best record in the AL despite having the third lowest payroll in the league (with only the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians have lower payrolls) and ranking 26th out of the 30 MLB teams. It's not how much money which determines if you win but how you use it and the Tampa Bay Rays know how to spend their money.
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