Rejoice! Baseball is finally back as the Tampa Bay Rays are set to retake the field for a new season this Friday in Tropicana Field against the Baltimore Orioles. Manager Kevin Cash and his squad are coming off a successful year in which they finished as the best regular season team in the American League. However, the team was defeated in the ALDS by the Boston Red Sox in four games. Despite a disappointing end to a promising year, the Rays are very much in contention for their first World Series title in franchise history.
The Pitching Staff, When Healthy, is the Best in Baseball
Tampa Bay’s lone free agent signing this offseason was Corey Kluber. The former New York Yankee is a dangerous pickup for the Rays as he finished 2021 with a 5-3 record and a 3.83 ERA. Kluber also had a no hitter on May 19th, 2021 against the Texas Rangers showing his raw pitching talent. If Kluber can stay healthy, the Rays will definitely add him to the deadly starting rotation.
Fans will also love to see Tyler Glasnow make his return to the diamond. The Rays top ace saw his 2021 season get cut short due to an injury in his elbow. He had Tommy John surgery back in August 2021. He only had two wins a year ago, but back in 2019, he had a 6-1 record and an astonishing 1.78 ERA. Glasnow’s 6’8″ power at the mound creates nightmares for any lineup he faces. It also helps when he is on the field and healthy.
Tampa’s bullpen also runs very deep with plenty of guys in relief and closers that can step up big time when needed. Luis Patiño has some exploding fastballs off the mound and Ryan Yarbrough looked impressive when he had to start some games later on in the season. Yarbrough has a career 3.36 ERA, which is very impressive for a pitcher pushing into his thirties.
The Rays also have many options for the closer role. Andrew Kittredge and Nick Anderson are the two that come to mind. Anderson, however, will be out until after the All Star break with recent elbow surgery. That leaves Kittredge to be the main closer for the team; he impressed with a 2.25 ERA in 2020 which helped the team win the American League. A year later in 2021, Kittredge finished with a 1.88 ERA in 71 innings pitched.
It is safe to say that the Rays will be well equipped with guys on the mound that can take the team to the promised land.
Welcome to the Wander Franco, Randy Arozarena Show
The Rays have a couple of hot bats on hand. Franco and Arozarena are two of the most electrifying players in baseball with both combining for 27 home runs, 157 runs, 108 RBIs, and batting averages over .270 this past year. In other words, these two can hit baseballs and rack up runs like it is nothing.
Franco and Arozarena also will be the key to the Rays offense this season and will have to step into roles that exceed their age. Arozarena is fresh off an American League Rookie of the Year season and he is looking to take steps to become the Rays go-to batter. Franco’s expectations will be higher than ever this year. The former minor league phenom was the top prospect in MLBPipeline.com’s top 30 international prospects in 2017. Tampa Bay also recently signed him to a new 11-year, $182 million contract back in November, showing that the team sees him as a franchise player and a future star in this league.
Both of these players will be the gears that turn the Rays offense; especially since the team just traded away one of their other solid bats in Austin Meadows to the Detroit Tigers.
It will be interesting to see how the Rays pan out this year and if they can win a third straight division title, and ultimately that elusive first World Series championship the team has been searching for.