First a look at the standings:
One decent race in the AL, but all the divisions are wide-open in the NL.
Rays team stats:
Once again, this could be our best team ever - certainly the record reflects it. We're dominating all the offensive categories except baserunning as this team doesn't steal that much any longer, and we don't need to run the risk of making outs on the basepaths. The pitching is excellent, especially the bullpen as I don't ever remember having a bullpen ERA this low this late in the season. And lookie here: 6th in defensive efficiency! 9th in zone rating! Those rankings are usually in the double digits. Jeff Baez and his 70 rating at SS probably have a lot to do with this as he was a defensive upgrade on Ricky Widmar.
Team hitting stats:
6 hitters playing at a 7.0 WAR or better pace this year, can't argue with that. Only negative is that neither of our catchers are really hitting much, although Will Quintana has heated up over the last month. Also amusing that one big game from Robbie Salazar has him with more WAR than either Chris Peters or Mike McKee, who have 10x the at-bats. And then there's Daniel Vasquez, doomed for eternity to have 1 at-bat for the season but with a 1.000 BA. We've been remarkably injury-free with the exception of Bo Angeac who missed about a month, and of course Vasquez (who will be great but hasn't been missed).
Team pitching stats:
Very few complaints here. Unlike on the offensive side, we've had to deal with some injuries as Jon Soranno went down for the year and Leo Ortega is currently three weeks into his one-month injury. Again the bullpen has been outstanding, and I want to make special mention of Bob Sirna as he's cut the walks back and become a lethal weapon out of the pen. The only disappointments have been Willie Bertone, struggling with control, and Nate Thompson, who was been inconsistent. Thompson's been somewhat unlucky with batted balls though, and in fact has a better FIP (3.66) than Josh Hanna (3.69) even though Hanna's ERA is over 2 runs better.
So once again we're biding our time until the playoffs, and right now it looks like we'll be playing Houston or Boston in the ALDS, a couple of once-perennial powers which have been absent from the playoffs for over a decade.