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Art Deco · 03-01-2025, 03:43 PM

Record: 37-18 (22-6 for the month)
1st place AL East, 5 ahead of New York, tied for best record in baseball with Texas

What a month. The Rays finally came into their own after a sluggish April and entered June on an 8-game win streak. An unlike April where it seemed they lucked their way into or squeaked through for wins, they played excellent all-around baseball. Of particular note was the pitching, which only allowed 79 runs in the 28 games or 2.82 runs/game. We also made it through injury-free and got Owen Paino back in the second half of the month, leading us to reluctantly send down Pepin Schwartz who filled in admirably as a rookie. Speaking of rookies, we finally pulled the trigger on prospect Chris Crisp and benched Joe Edwards in LF and Crisp showed us why he was so highly-regarded when he hit six homers over a six-game stretch starting in his third game after being recalled. To make room on the roster for Crisp we said goodbye to Brailer Guerrero in this trade:

There wasn't a market for a platoon OF with defensive limitations but we did alright in picking up Spooner, who hit 299/390/539 in AAA last year with 25 homers and is rated 50/50 contact power with 65/60 potential. Pete Anderson is a rental at 1B and while current DH Geronimo Satiro can play the position it's good to have quality options for next year. Meanwhile here's how the month played out day-by-day:

And a look at the league overall, with the Rays now in an enviable position:

The team numbers:

We're playing a little over our heads Pythagorean-wise, but otherwise the numbers are justified. The offense could be a bit better but we'll always be a team that relies on the home run, and we have the power to do so. The rebuilt rotation has been magnificent and exceeded expectations and the team defense has been solid to above-average.

And what a 16-game debut for Crisp with a 1.035 OPS. The only knock is that maybe he shouldn't run so much, having been caught stealing 4 times in 6 attempts. Subaru had a big month, as did Quezada, who is showing off the power-speed combo that made him so attractive to us. Paino hit the ground running after coming off the IL and you can see why were sad to see Schwartz go for now. Meanwhile we had a bit of a bad run of luck with injuries and suspensions at 2B so Ethan Holliday got the call for a little while after being in the minors for most of the last two years, and his 0-13 in his cameo did little to inspire us to bring him up again.

Brilliant pitching numbers all around as alluded to earlier. In fact Ray got some recognition:

He was BABIP-lucky (.188) but got the job done.

We'll check in on the prospects against at mid-season.

03-01-2025, 03:43 PM	#238
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,826	May 2033 Record: 37-18 (22-6 for the month) 1st place AL East, 5 ahead of New York, tied for best record in baseball with Texas What a month. The Rays finally came into their own after a sluggish April and entered June on an 8-game win streak. An unlike April where it seemed they lucked their way into or squeaked through for wins, they played excellent all-around baseball. Of particular note was the pitching, which only allowed 79 runs in the 28 games or 2.82 runs/game. We also made it through injury-free and got Owen Paino back in the second half of the month, leading us to reluctantly send down Pepin Schwartz who filled in admirably as a rookie. Speaking of rookies, we finally pulled the trigger on prospect Chris Crisp and benched Joe Edwards in LF and Crisp showed us why he was so highly-regarded when he hit six homers over a six-game stretch starting in his third game after being recalled. To make room on the roster for Crisp we said goodbye to Brailer Guerrero in this trade: There wasn't a market for a platoon OF with defensive limitations but we did alright in picking up Spooner, who hit 299/390/539 in AAA last year with 25 homers and is rated 50/50 contact power with 65/60 potential. Pete Anderson is a rental at 1B and while current DH Geronimo Satiro can play the position it's good to have quality options for next year. Meanwhile here's how the month played out day-by-day: And a look at the league overall, with the Rays now in an enviable position: The team numbers: We're playing a little over our heads Pythagorean-wise, but otherwise the numbers are justified. The offense could be a bit better but we'll always be a team that relies on the home run, and we have the power to do so. The rebuilt rotation has been magnificent and exceeded expectations and the team defense has been solid to above-average. And what a 16-game debut for Crisp with a 1.035 OPS. The only knock is that maybe he shouldn't run so much, having been caught stealing 4 times in 6 attempts. Subaru had a big month, as did Quezada, who is showing off the power-speed combo that made him so attractive to us. Paino hit the ground running after coming off the IL and you can see why were sad to see Schwartz go for now. Meanwhile we had a bit of a bad run of luck with injuries and suspensions at 2B so Ethan Holliday got the call for a little while after being in the minors for most of the last two years, and his 0-13 in his cameo did little to inspire us to bring him up again. Brilliant pitching numbers all around as alluded to earlier. In fact Ray got some recognition: He was BABIP-lucky (.188) but got the job done. We'll check in on the prospects against at mid-season.