And here we are again, halfway through another season. The MLB Standings:
Rays team stats:
The offense remains top-ranked, but it's not quite as good as last year's. We're averaging a healthy 5.96 runs/game, but last year it was 6.55/game and that's why we're on pace to win about 15 games fewer this year. Despite losing 40% of the rotation the pitching remains very good, and we're about as good as we've ever been in zone rating even if the defensive efficiency remains poor.
The batting stats:
Omar Rodriguez is looking to end Jaiden Hardaway's 4-year reign as AL MVP. One of the main reasons we're down over 1/2 a run per game is that Danny Ayala, Jon Jimenez and Daniel Vasquez are hitting nowhere where they need last year, and in the case of the first two, the last few years. Expecting positive regression from there. We've also been (knock wood) injury-free among our hitters this year.
The pitching:
As mentioned several times before, Josh Carsello is the AL Cy Young front-runner but Kevin Kerstetter isn't that far behind him as he's shrugged off last season's injury-shortened year and gotten back to his 2035 form when he was 21-0. We've been through way many more pitchers than hitters this year but at least none of them have provided negative WAR. Meanwhile, some of these BB/K ratios out of the pen are ridiculous (Kawase, Golunski, Toombs, Cotton).