They play in the worst ballpark in Major League Baseball. Their
attendance numbers are always at the bottom of the league. They’re not going to
make the playoffs. Chances are baseball fans outside of Tampa Bay aren’t familiar
with more than a handful of players on the Rays roster. Yet, after taking two
of three from the Cleveland Indians, who are about to win their third
consecutive AL Central division title, the Tampa Bay Rays are going to flirt
with 90 wins.
How is this possible? A team with a roster chockfull of has-beens
and unproven young players is 15 games over .500 in mid-September. In the last
12 months, the Rays have traded away franchise icons like Evan Longoria and
Chris Archer as well as All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos. There have been plenty
of other transactions as well and on the surface not many of them indicate a
team looking to compete in 2018.
The most obvious trend the Rays have started has been the
use of “The Opener” across baseball. Before the season, pitching prospects
Brent Honeywell and Jose De Leon had Tommy John surgery for Tampa. In June,
another pitching prospect, Anthony Banda, went under the knife for the same
surgery. Banda pitched less than 15 innings in the big leagues this year and
Honeywell and De Leon were expected to contribute at the big league level this
season. Rather than just hand the ball to the next man up simply because that
pitcher was a conventional starter, the Rays and manager Kevin Cash took a
different approach. Cash started using relievers to start games, a statistically-sound
strategy albeit new. The first inning is the inning in which the most runs are
scored in Major League Baseball. On certain days, Cash has used a reliever for
the first inning and then allowed the “starter” to pitch through the order
twice and usually throw up to five innings.
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| Kim Klement/USA Today Sports Kevin Cash and the Tampa Bay Rays have exceeded expectations more than any team in Major League Baseball. |
It was certainly different, and if there’s one thing
old-school baseball fans hate, it’s anything different. Thankfully, baseball
has moved on from the pitcher win as a relevant statistic and the growth of “The
Opener” is only further proof of that. Not only does it make sense to use a pitcher
who goes full-throttle for one inning to start the game in the league’s
highest-scoring inning, but this also avoids the next pitcher from seeing the
opposing team’s best hitters three times. If it’s not the first inning, then
another statistically-backed theory indicates the third time through the order
is when offenses tend to have lots of success against starting pitchers. In
other words, get the starter early, or hope he tires out late. “The Opener” eliminates
both of these issues that generally arrive for traditional starting pitchers.
In some games this year, the Rays have opted for a full
bullpen approach where no one pitcher throws more than two or three innings. They
were thin on starting pitching. So they practically eliminated it.
Traditionalists would sooner call up minor leaguers with no real future in the
big leagues just to be a starter than try something like Cash and the Rays have
done. Once that leads to a loss, it can
simply to chalked up as “not our year” and nobody within the organization
really gets blamed for such a loss because they played it by the book. Cash has
decided to do anything in his power to win the game in front of him and his
bullpen decisions have certainly helped do that.
One time, Cash even kept left-handed reliever Jose Alvarado
in the game in the ninth inning to play first base because he wanted to bring
him back in later in the ninth inning. The Rays won this game. This kind of situational
bullpen usage in the ninth was another example of combating conventional wisdom.
While leaving a reliever in the game as a position player was new, practically
every manager in baseball now has realized the absurdity of refusing to use
your best reliever until the ninth inning or in some cases, extra innings if
you are the visiting team.
This feels like a good time to remind everyone Baltimore
manager Buck Showalter left Zach Britton in the bullpen in the 2016 AL Wild
Card game in Toronto. He was waiting for his team to take the lead in the top
of one of the extra innings. That lead never came and the best reliever in
baseball in 2016 never pitched in a one-game playoff. Nice way to head into the
offseason.
Since implementing “The Opener” in the middle of May, Tampa
Bay has the second-lowest ERA in baseball. Other teams have also started using
it. Yet, this idea is still met with discontent by lots of baseball fans. The
Rays are not necessarily out to kill the starting pitcher entirely. Their
left-handed ace Blake Snell is probably the AL Cy Young award winner and they’re
not using an opener on days he starts. They just found a better way of filling
innings and winning games than rounding out a rotation with lackluster
starters.
There’s also a few feel-good stories about this Rays season.
Left-handed reliever Jonny Venters had three Tommy John surgeries only to
return to the majors six years after last pitching in 2012. Like most Rays who
had the slightest ounce of trade value, Venters was dealt before the non-waiver
trade deadline in July. It would appear outfielder Mallex Smith has however
found a steady home in Tampa Bay after being traded while in the minor leagues
and twice in one day back in January 2017. Smith is slashing .303/.373/.421
this year with 31 stolen bases and a 121 OPS+.
With pace of play being such a hot topic amongst the owners
and commissioner Rob Manfred in recent years, the Rays bullpen strategy and a
few teams following suit is certainly going to spark more pace of play discussions.
But, can anyone fault the Rays? They just keep winning and the players have
bought in. It’s not going to be enough because the American League has three
teams that are going to win 100 games and two of the three are in the Rays’
division. For what it’s worth, Tampa’s 80-65 mark would put it atop the NL West
and second in the NL East. Kevin Cash is the American League Manager of the
Year. If by some chance he doesn’t win, then it’s Bob Melvin with Oakland, who
has wisely taken bunting to new lows.
But Oakland was aggressive at the deadline and it looks to
be paying off as the only question surrounding the A’s is if they can win the
AL West or if they’ll have to settle for a wild card. Tampa Bay was realistic
about its chances and knew it could not compete with Boston or New York in the
AL East. But that hasn’t stopped Cash from trying to win every game he manages
and he’s done alright.
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