It's been a bit of a rollercoaster season with lows at the beginning (starts of 0-3 and 5-8) and the end of the first half (2-7) but highs in between (43-16). It all adds up to a 100-win pace but given how strong the Yankees are this season it might be enough to win the division.
And it wouldn't be if the season ended today, although we'd otherwise get a chance to play that game in hand and maybe force a tie. A rare season in which no Rays hitters are among the top 3 in any category.
Nevertheless the offense is still very good, even if it isn't as dominant as it has been in some years. The one knock on it is that the squad is as slow as molasses with only 20 SB and poor baserunning. The pitching has been pretty good too despite some ups and downs and defense is back to its customary lousiness.
The Avaloses are leading the way and Luis Barela continues to age like a fine wine, so no complaints. Yang had a great rookie first half but has cooled off a little of late. The disappointment on offense has been David Morales, who was hitting for average but stopped hitting doubles before he got hurt a couple of weeks ago.
Can't really complain about the pitching either with Rose and Mastropietro having All-Star (and in Rose's case, Cy Young) caliber seasons and the other three starters good but not great. The bullpen has been fairly solid too despite a meltdown here or there.
All in all it's hard to complain about a team on pace for 100 wins even if this squad seems to lack a little something - i.e., they're perfectly "fine" but the "wow factor" seems missing.
Also there's no "wow factor" with the farm system. Whitaker was our top pick this year and he takes over the #1 prospect spot in the organization and most of these guys are at least 2-3 years away. One exception is the fast-rising Gonzalez, already on the team filling in at C for David Morales.