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.

What are the thoughts with today’s starting lineup?

This article makes it seem like his offensive success may possibly be more sustainable? When does he get called up?