5/24 Online Seats Game Thread: Back to the AL East

The Boston Red Sox did to Philadelphia what the Bruins could not this weekend. But the boys of summer will have a whole new challenge, as they head south to Tampa Bay to face the Tampa Bay Rays in a good old fashioned AL East showdown.

Money in the margins

What is the first thing a server asks you when sit down at a table? “What can I get you to drink?” Why is the desert menu usually separate from the rest of the menu? Because flour, sugar, syrup and water are cheap and not labor intensive. The profit on that steak may be 40 to 50 percent after labor is included in its preparation but the soda you have been chugging down in the mean time nets a 98 percent gain.

Where Theo Epstein truly makes his money is with the players on the margins, the soda and German chocolate cakes players who propel an 81 win team to a 96 win team.

4/16 Online Seats Game Thread: Running to Home

The Boston Red Sox will return home to face Tampa Bay, and Josh Beckett tries to set the pace against the red hot Rays.

AL East Sleepers: Tampa Bay Devil Rays

For a team that, in any given year, is a collection of sleepers, this team has a number of high-upside contributors looking for either a rebound or breakout season. For the Rays to compete, they will need every player on the roster firing at all cylinders as the 2010 season is going to be – in all likelihood – the most competitive it has been since the 1990s. Both the Red Sox and Yankees have restocked, the Rays have plugged up their disappointments and shored up their injuries, while the Orioles just got a serious infusion of young talent. The Blue Jays are still an NL West contender in any given year.