Wednesday links: Checking in on AL East rivals; Tampa Bay Rays edition

From top to bottom, no team went through quite as many changes as the Tampa Bay Rays have this offseason. The teams first casualty came during the MLB Playoffs, when Rays general manager Andrew Friedman announced that he was leaving Tampa Bay and joining the L.A....

The Buchh Stops Here

The Red Sox are up two games to none on the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS, and they have yet to use their best starting pitcher. This is something you already know, of course, but it’s incredible enough that it bears repeating. What’s perhaps more notable is that this...

Ranking Possible Playoff Opponents

ESPN’s standings currently have the Red Sox sitting at a 99.9% chance of making the playoffs. So is it a lock that Boston will once against be dancing in October? Of course not! But just how close are they to winning the AL East? Even if the Red Sox go a modest 7-8...

The Advanced Scout – Tampa Bay Rays

It’s pretty much come down to this, folks. The Rays are falling way behind in the pennant race, and the Red Sox have gladly widened the gap. Their only chance to get back in the race? A tussle with the team at the top of the division. The Red Sox will gladly...

The Advanced Scout – Tampa Bay Rays

Sort of an “out of the frying pan, into the fire” situation for the Red Sox here, huh? They just finish with a hard-fought series victory over the New York Yankees only to run into the magma-hot Rays from St. Pete. We always want more baseball, and this...

The Advanced Scout – Tampa Bay Rays

After losing two of three to Toronto, the Boston Red Sox (22-16, third place in the AL East, 2 games back) travel to St. Petersburg, Florida to face the Tampa Bay Rays (19-18, 4th place in the AL East, 4.5 games back) in a three-game series. The Red Sox are a woeful...

The Advanced Scout – Tampa Bay Rays

After losing two of three against the Orioles, the Boston Red Sox (5-4, tied for first in the AL East) finish their homestand with a four- three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays (4-5, one game back in the AL East). The Rays usually get by with pitching and...

Know Thy Enemy 2013: Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay Rays 2013 Season Preview As you may recall, it began on June 5, 2008. The night prior, Coco Crisp had slid questionably hard into the knees of Rays’ second baseman Akinori Iwamura. Words were exchanged, but the teams shortly thereafter went about their...