When we talk about the Tampa Bay Rays, it’s usually regarding their plucky ability to surprise the baseball world and win more games than expected despite a meager payroll, sparse attendance and imposing division rivals. But they’re seldom described as a clear-cut powerhouse dominating the league, without any of those small-market qualifiers or paeans to […]
This is a week of big decisions for nearly every general manager in baseball. Ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, front offices need to figure out exactly where their teams stand in the playoff race and just how much risk they’re willing to tolerate in the name of making a run this year, versus selling off […]
If there is one thing we know about hitters vs. pitchers, it is that a hitter’s stats tend to stabilize much more quickly. This means it takes a bit smaller of a sample for us to figure out what to make of their performance. That isn’t to say there is no noise in small samples […]
The 2021 MLB regular season came down to its final day with a lot of potential for chaos — including a possible four-way tie for the American League’s two wild-card slots and contingency plans for multiple extra games just to get the playoff field set. But while Sunday provided some momentary intrigue, the most dramatic […]
Like starting your own orchard, launching a franchise in Tampa is an exercise in delayed gratification. Before tasting the sweet fruits of your labor, you must have the patience to endure long, painful periods of no fruit whatsoever. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their Creamsicle jerseys managed only three winning seasons in their first 20 […]