RAYS FIND A WAY
Parade of pitchers have helped Tampa hold onto 1st in East
The subject was the white hot Yankees and the equally relentless Rays and what is shaping up as one of the most compelling September pennant races since the advent of the wild cards. “If the Rays, for all their lineup variations and multitude of pitchers have taught us one thing,” said a high level American League executive, “it’s that you don’t have to pay $50 million for a closer. It’s money much better spent in a number of other places.”
Indeed, the Rays — who have been in first place in the American League East since July 3 — are doing it in a most unconventional fashion. Having lost their ace Tyler Glasnow for the season June 15 with a torn ulnar collateral elbow ligament, their starting rotation has been a bit of a revolving door. Only one starter (Josh Fleming, 10-6) has a double digit win total and only one features an ERA of under 4.00 (Shane McClanahan, 3.59) and fewer hits per inning. It seems just about every day, the Rays have been employing a “bullpen game” with no less than 11 different pitchers having registered saves this year. The Rays have so far employed a team record 36 different pitchers (18 of whom have spent time on the IL) which as of Friday was actually the sixth most in the majors behind the Mets (40), Diamondbacks (39), Blue Jays, Cubs and Dodgers (37 each) according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
It would sure seem to be a hard way to win a pennant, especially when you consider the Yankees have three established starters in Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon and Jordan Montgomery, and a few others, Nestor Cortes Jr., Domingo German, Luis Gil and possibly Corey Kluber capable of giving them five innings or more. Whether the Rays can sustain this remains to be seen, but they’ve kept reeling in multiple relievers all season long without skipping a beat. Their 3.10 bullpen ERA is the second lowest in the majors and their 15 blown saves are the third fewest.
“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say if not for the second and, probably, the third, line our bullpen depth that we wouldn’t be leading the division without the contributions of all of them,” Rays GM Erik Neander told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times last week.
Interestingly, because of Aroldis Chapman’s recent struggles, the Yankees had to take a page out of the Rays’ book in closing out games with six different relievers registering saves during their August surge. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that the Yankees have managed to keep winning, night after night, with not a whole lot of contribution from their closer, who is in the second of a three-year, $48 million contract — at the same time the Rays are closing out games with a gang of 10-11, most of whom are making under $1 million.
One can only wonder if the three-year, $54 million contract the White Sox doled out to Liam Hendriks last winter will be the last of those kinds of big bucks deals for closers, especially since Hendriks, though mostly effective, does have six blown saves this season. This prompted the White Sox to trade one of their best young players, second baseman Nick Madrigal, to the Cubs for closer “insurance” in Craig Kimbrel.
Meanwhile, the Yankees, who were in third place (7 ½ games back) at the trade deadline, have made it quite clear they are taking aim on the Rays and outright winning the division, and not just a place in the postseason. It’s a race that very well could come down to the last three games of the season when the Yankees and Rays square off in the Bronx. This is why baseball should not bow to the temptation of changing the one-game sudden death wild card game to a three-game series. I can’t think of better season-ending drama than two teams playing for the division title with the loser having to face a do-or-die one-game playoff to advance into the postseason.
The trade deadline further separated the haves from the have-nots and there are now at least nine barely competitive/ mostly awful teams — the Orioles, Rangers, Pirates, Nationals, Angels, Twins, Cubs, Marlins and Diamondbacks — for the contenders in both leagues to fatten up on. The September schedule leading up to that last three-game showdown in the Bronx would appear to favor the Yankees, who have six games with the dreadful Orioles, three games with the almost-as-bad Rangers, three games with the continuing reeling Mets and one game with the depleted Twins. By contrast, the Rays have only three games left with the Orioles, plus three games with the Twins and three games with the Marlins — but finish the season on the road with three games in Houston against the first-place Astros and the three games against the Yankees. In the division, the Rays have seven games with the Red Sox and six with the Blue Jays, while the Yankees have seven games with the Jays and three with the Red Sox — at Fenway Park.