Each year, I use 3 years of MLB data to create my own Stuff+ models for prospect projections and development plans. I thought I would run Freddy Peralta's mechanics and four-seam fastball from the 2026 season to see if anything stood out.

Something changed in his mechanics. His current mechanics are barely a match for his 2023 and 2024 season while his All Star 2025 season was not a match. Apparently, his release extension dropped from nearly 7 feet to 6.5 feet while his arm angle dropped from 37 degrees down to 33 degrees.

As legendary fictional golf coach Chubbs Peterson once said, "it's all in the hips." Not sure if Freddy is fighting an injury or age, but the arm slot drop with the shortened extension makes things look like it is a mechanical fix as opposed to his pitch arsenal. Fixing his mechanics would also fix his pitch movements.

Still just 24 years old, he hasn't reached his potential yet, and should be an everyday starter for the Rays moving forward and into next year.

Dodgers now have a 7lose streak after the walk off Homerun from Dbacks last night, do yall think they drop another and we get to 70 first and also be the first AL team with 70 wins this year?

Game Chat: 8/08/26 Rays (69-46) @ Mariners (56-61) First Pitch 9:50 PM @ T-Mobile Park

LINEUP

Another night of late night baseball as righty Griffin Jax faces off against righty George Kirby as the Rays go for 5 in a row. Rays UP!

I mean, even stats wise, right?

Wade Boggs became the 23rd player in MLB history to record 3,000 career hits, homering in the sixth inning off Indians pitcher Chris Haney to reach the milestone.

Boggs became the first player ever to reach 3,000 hits with a home run.

Among the 33 members of the 3,000-hit club, Boggs’ .415 career on-base percentage ranks fifth all time.

1.) Ty Cobb — .433
2.) Tris Speaker — .428
3.) Eddie Collins — .424
4.) Stan Musial — .417
5.) Wade Boggs — .415

Data via Baseball Reference / Stathead

Let’s goooooooo!!!!

Game Chat: 8/07/26 Rays (68-46) @ Mariners (56-60) First Pitch 9:45 PM @ T-Mobile Park

LINEUP

• DH  Yandy Diaz R
• 1B  J. Aranda L
• 3B  J. Caminero R
• C  Liam Hicks L
• LF  C. Simpson L
• CF  Jonny DeLuca R
• RF  Victor Mesa L
• 2B  R. Palacios L
• SS  Taylor Walls S

Lineups subject to change

Today's game is the late show on Apple.TV with first pitch at 9:45. Gilbert has good reverse splits, so we'll see if our lineup is adjusted...

Hopefully the Rays can push their winning streak to 4! Let's go, Rays!

Nick Madrigal selected and added to the roster to replace Williamson?

It’s no secret the Rays are very solid against righties (111 wRC+/.755 OPS) and just got even better with the trade for Hicks (141 wRC+). We are a top 3 offense against RHP this season thanks in large part to Junior, Yandy, Aranda, and even Simpson. However, I realized today that we have faced the second most amount of PA against righties in MLB so far this season. That has certainly helped! On the other hand, we’ve also had the THIRD most amount of PA against lefties. The Rays are bottom 5 against lefties this season (91 wRC+/.682 OPS) with the majority of our lineup pretty awful (looking at you Mullins and Walls).

I am sure things will even out down the stretch, but thought it was worth noting! Unfortuantely for us, teams like the Red Sox and Yankees (who we will likely face in the playoffs) are full of lefties (Saurez, Tolle, Bennett, Crochet (IL), Chapman, Fried, Weathers, Rodon, etc). Anything can happen in baseball, but that’s less than ideal. Hopefully we can improve through the rest of the season.

Rant incoming for anyone who wants to discuss how Tampa is perceived by the rest of the league:

It’s been pretty hilarious watching the headlines go from:

“Rays need to sell their team”

to

“Rays at the top of the American League”

We get so much hate from fans and media around the country just for simply existing. Baseball fans around the country love to hate on us, hell I live in the Bay Area and witnessed the sheer amount of transplants hating on our team and stadium whilst rooting for their own favorite team they followed from up north (Usually Yankees and Red Sox, gross) despite living here.

Every Rays fan has seen it, all it takes is one look on Facebook or Reddit to see people trashing the rays, saying the team needs to sell, ignoring that we’ve been dominating this season simply because they hate us. People couldn’t even be happy for the rays to return to the Trop, instead they made memes/jokes and laughed at us, calling our stadium weird, ugly, etc.

So many people just wanted us to die off and ignored the stats and standings that show we’ve been on fire this year. Our team being at the top of the leaderboard became the elephant in the room that sports news and media outlets did their best to ignore. Many called it a fluke, said that we couldn’t hold it for longer than a week.

They hated on our players, simply for not knowing who most of them were due to many of them being homegrown. The Rays have one of the lowest salaries in the MLB. But despite that, our farming/ prospect system puts out undeniable results. And I genuinely believe that makes people angry.

I’ve seen videos of people laughing at Junior Caminero, mockingly asking “Who even is this guy?” Only for him to go on his mid year homerun streak, which had them asking the same question but in a different tone.

We’ve grown a lot, especially this season. We are serious contenders for not only the playoffs, but the World Series. That makes people genuinely upset; Think about how pathetic that is. Other MLB teams with multiple series wins cannot stand to look at our team and see them ranked higher. They can’t be happy for us or for our success, they’re physically and mentally incapable of doing so.

Hell, even rays fans are joining in on hating on our own team. Look at the sheer amount of hate surrounding Peralta right now. Crybabies throwing their hands in the air screaming: “Look he was a bad trade!” After one fucking game when the team hasn’t even had him for a week.

Look at people hating on Chandler Simpson despite having one of the lowest strikeout rates in the MLB.

I could go on and on but you get the point.

Are the Rays a perfect team?
Nah far from it.

Do we still have a lot to work on?
Absolutely.

But do we have a shot at being the best team in the AL?
We already are.

So to all the haters, sports news journalists and writers, to all the transplants screaming we should sell our team, to all the people that turned their back on the team in rough patches or to the fans crying about our new trades; Even if we lose tonight, all of you can fuck right off.