Building a Contender: A look at the Tampa Bay Rays in a sport where contention = $$$

It’s the end of the regular season and it’s time to rant/blog. I promise that I will rehash the Pirates’ slightly impressive season before the late summer meltdown, but at least it wasn’t a spring meltdown (see Dave’s next post). But before that, I want to pontificate about the Franchise that is the Tampa Bay Rays. How they are competing in the most difficult division in baseball with a team payroll of $41 million (29^th out of 30 MLB teams).

1. A complete rotation

During their absurd September push for the playoffs, the Rays had 7 different starting pitchers that helped lead the team to the largest comeback in baseball history. 7 different starters over a one month period is normally associated with poor starting pitching, however for the Rays it was their strength. They went with a 6 man rotation down the stretch to keep their rotation fresh. The two starters added in September for 6^th spot of the rotation were from the organization’s Triple-A minor league affiliate, the Durham Bulls.¹ Big deal, just the usual September call-ups, right? Not quite. These two are horses (or should I say Bulls? Nah, it’s too obvious). Check out their AAA stat lines:

Alex Cobb SP – 1.87 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 9.1 K/9
Matt Moore SP - 1.37 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 13.6 K/9

Add to these two “Bulls” to the big league horses that are led by Shields, Hellickson and Price, you have a good chance to win every night.

2. Young, complementary bats

The Rays are not known for having a lot of power in their lineup, but they are a surprising 6^th in the AL in HRs. The main way they generate runs are through aggressive base running and patience at the plate. The Rays lead the AL (2^nd MLB) in Stolen Bases and 3^rd in the AL (4^th MLB) in Base on Balls. I titled it young, complementary bats, because outside of the Rays core (Longoria, Upton, and Zobrist) the Rays had catalyst players throughout the season that made them a successful offense. Here are two examples that I found. (just for the record Upton and Longoria owned September with a combined .311/13/44)

May - Matt Joyce .414/7/21
Aug - Desmond Jennings .333/7/12

3. The “Screw it! We are going to win!” attitude

Believe it or not, I attempted to find a stat to support this last point, but I could not really find it. It is hard to define this attitude or the source of it. Yes, Joe Maddon has to be part of the equation. He helped take the Rays from worst in 2007 to first in 2008. And, maybe the name change from Devil Rays to Rays added a divine blessing (Although, the Duke Blue Devils continue to win.) Regardless of the source, the power of the Rays state of mind/confidence/aura should not be understated. Everyone sees it, feels it, and believes it (including the ’11 Red Sox). In mid-September, I remember hearing that the Rays were 7 games behind the Red Sox with 7 matchups left between the two teams. I thought to myself, “If any team can do, the Rays can.” I said the same thing when the Rays were down 7 runs against the Yankees on Wednesday, "The Rays can."

And the Rays certainly did.

1 Get it? Durham Bulls. Haha I love the pun. Well done, well done.