#Rangers vs devil rays score upgrade#
#Rangers vs devil rays score series#
#Rangers vs devil rays score free#

The biggest change, however, might simply be the defense: He had a career. He has increased his cutter usage from 15% to 31% and nearly completely ditched his four-seamer, which he threw 16% of the time last year, to stick with his sinker, with the cutter/sinker combo playing successfully off each other. Sure enough, the Rays have tweaked things a little bit.

Indeed, Eflin improved to 4-0 after beating the Pirates and is now 7-1 with a 3.17 ERA - allowing just seven walks in 54 innings. A better defense behind him - certainly better than the ones the Phillies have thrown out there during Eflin's career - combined with the Rays' ability to improve a pitcher's repertoire meant the signing made a lot of sense. 'In an era of power and velocity, he's an artist,' president of baseball operations Erik Neander said in December when the club signed Eflin.

What did the Rays see? A guy who throws strikes - Eflin averaged just 1.5 walks per nine over the 2021-22 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies.

#Rangers vs devil rays score free#

Eflin was one of the more intriguing free agent signings of the offseason as the Rays gave him a three-year, $40 million contract - not only the largest free agent deal in franchise history but one to a pitcher with a 4.49 career ERA who had pitched just 181 innings over the previous two seasons. In the finale, Zach Eflin tossed seven scoreless innings and struck out 10 with no walks - the first time in his career he recorded double-digit strikeouts with no free passes.

#Rangers vs devil rays score series#

The Pirates entered this series nearly as hot as the Rays, with a 20-9 record and as winners of 11 of their past 13 games. Let's go back series by series and see what we learned. May, on the other hand, presented a much more difficult slate of opponents, so we got a better idea of the Rays' potential greatness. There were still skeptics, however, since the Rays dominated a soft schedule and in their two toughest series, against the Toronto Blue Jays and Astros, they dropped four of six games. That first month put them on an early pace to become one of the greatest teams of all time. The national spotlight fell on them after they began the season with 13 consecutive wins and finished April at 23-6 with an incredible plus-103 run differential. The Rays are not a miracle - they're an exceptional organization, only one that's less celebrated. Since 2019, only the Dodgers and Astros have won more games since 2008, only the Dodgers, Yankees and St. Now two of those three are injured - and this still looks like the best Rays team ever, except with two young stars to build around in McClanahan and Wander Franco. Last year's team snuck in with 86 wins mainly due to the emergence of Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs. The 2021 team hit a lot of home runs and won 100 games even though its two pitchers with the most innings had ERAs over 5.00. They reached the World Series in 2020, but that was kind of a scrappy team with a great bullpen. In 2019, they won 96 games, but their four best players that season (Charlie Morton, Austin Meadows, Willy Adames and Tommy Pham) are long gone.

Perhaps that's because they turn the roster over rapidly and often rely upon depth more than star power. They have made the playoffs the past four seasons, but there always seems some surprise that they're doing it again. That view is a little unfair, though, because in one sense, the Rays are no different from the New York Yankees or Los Angeles Dodgers or Houston Astros or Atlanta Braves - they expect to contend for a World Series every season. How the Rays proved in May that they can win it all in Octoberįor a long time, I've considered the Tampa Bay Rays to be baseball's little miracle, succeeding in the sport's toughest division - the American League East - despite low payrolls, low attendance figures and a stadium situation that remains unresolved.

#Rangers vs devil rays score upgrade#

You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser