The Tampa Bay Rays hype train has been at full speed on this site all season, following the chase for the undefeated Opening Day record since the Rays’ first series sweep.
The Rays have been electric this season as they went 13-0 to start the campaign and tied the Major League record set by the 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1987 Milwaukee Brewers. The Rays made history with an outstanding +71 run differential. To put that in perspective, that was, at the time, more than the entire National League.
Wander Franco and Randy Arozarena have been fantastic all season and appear to among the early contenders for the MVP award. There is also the surprise performance from their lineup with Issac Paredes, Jose Siri, and Brandon Lowe.
Seven in the fifth inning for the Tampa Bay Rays
It didn’t appear the Rays would get to their 13th straight win earlier in the game last Thursday. Instead, they fell behind to the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth before the Rays showed up and scored seven runs before the end of the inning.
With two outs, Arozarena knocks in Fernando Mejía and Lowe with a single. Franco was hit by a pitch on the next at-bat, loading the bases for a beautiful Manuel Margo bunt.
But that wasn’t enough for the high run-scoring Rays. Harold Ramirez sent out a bases-clearing double to make the ball game 8-3. It was an incredible game to tie the Opening Day win streak.
This team >>> pic.twitter.com/lh7uOObuOk
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 13, 2023
Rays can’t stop now
Nineteen games into the season, the Rays haven’t stopped. They traveled to Canada for a three-game series against AL East rival Toronto Blue Jays and picked up another win.
After that they were off to Cincinnati, where they lost the first game of the series but rallied back to take two against the Reds. They outscored the Reds 18-0 in the last two games to improve their run differential to +83 on the season.
The Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros are up next for the Rays, with both series at Tropicana Field. Both opponents have underperformed early in the season, so will the Rays take both series and improve their AL East lead?
It is still early in the season, so no one is getting too far ahead of themselves, but Rays fans should definitely be enjoying these moments.