The Tampa Bay Rays have gone from laughing stock to one of the most consistent teams in the AL the last half-dozen years \u2013 they haven\u2019t had a losing record over that span and they have made the playoffs four of the last six years. <\/p>\n
AL East: +225
\nAmerican League: 15\/2
\nWorld Series: 16\/1<\/p>\n
But with success comes heightened expectations and this year is no different.<\/p>\n
1 David DeJesus OF
\n2 Ben Zobrist 2B
\n3 Evan Longoria 3B
\n4 Wil Myers OF
\n5 Matt Joyce DH
\n6 James Loney 1B
\n7 Desmond Jennings OF
\n8 Yunel Escobar SS
\n9 Ryan Hanigan Catcher
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\nSurprisingly the Tampa Bay Rays were ninth in the AL in runs last year \u2013 surprising because this team was known for a stellar pitching staff and a somewhat anemic offense. Evan Longoria is the straw that stirs the drink here \u2013 he was injured a good part of last season and assuming he plays a full year, the Rays are poised to possibly improve on their 700 runs scored last year. Super-sophomore Wil Myers took the league by storm last year and should be better in his second year while playing his first full season in the Bigs, David DeJesus should provide a spark atop the lineup assuming he stays healthy and the supporting cast, although not great should be able to do enough to keep the Rays in games.<\/p>\n
Especially since the Rays own one of the most daunting\u2026<\/p>\n
1 David Price SP
\n2 Matt Moore SP
\n3 Alex Cobb SP
\n4 Chris Archer SP
\n5 Erik Bedard SP
\n6 Jake Odorizzi SP
\n7 Jeremy Hellickson (Injury) SP<\/p>\n
This is a mighty impressive unit \u2013 one of the best, on paper, in the AL. Health is obviously a huge factor but assuming all of the starters play full seasons there is no reason to think that Tampa doesn\u2019t emerge with a top 3 rotation in the AL. Even if one or two of the starter have to miss some time, the Rays boast a depth that is the envy of absolutely every Major League club.<\/p>\n
If pitching wins championships we can expect Tampa Bay to be right in the mix again this year.<\/p>\n
Grant Balfour RP<\/p>\n
Jake McGee RP
\nHeath Bell RP<\/p>\n
The Rays have had a tremendous history of getting the best out of their pen \u2013 they can recycle arms like nobody in baseball. Along with the pitchers mentioned, there is Joe Peralta, Brad Boxberger and Cesar Ramos for the starters to depend on. Tampa\u2019s Bullpen probably won\u2019t have to be sensational this year \u2013 the starters will likely make them look better than they are as per usual.<\/p>\n
That said Tampa figures to have that right mix to make things difficult on their opposition later in games. Manager Joe Maddon has a knack of utilizing his guys perfectly and getting the most out of them each and every night.<\/p>\n
Something that hasn\u2019t been mentioned yet is the defense \u2013 the Rays have consistently been among the league\u2019s best the last half dozen years. With arguably the best top 3 starters in the AL, with stout defense and with a formidable offense, expect the Rays to be in a familiar position \u2013 challenging for the AL East and advancing in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
There are absolutely no holes on this team \u2013 90 wins and an AL East crown is theirs to lose. As far as a World Series win, the Rays are a couple pieces short of that but as always they will make a serious run at the World Championship.<\/p>\n
2014 MLB Team Previews \u2013 Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays have gone from laughing stock to one of the most consistent teams in the AL the last half-dozen years \u2013 they haven\u2019t had a losing record over that span and they have made the playoffs four of the last six years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":63619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[61196,61195,10737,10736,678,11080,11081,11082,44091,11083,2687],"class_list":["post-72855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2014-al-east-futures","tag-2014-mlb-team-preview","tag-al-east-predictions","tag-al-east-preview","tag-mlb-betting","tag-rays-futures","tag-rays-odds","tag-rays-predictions","tag-rays-world-series-odds","tag-tampa-bay-rays-picks","tag-world-series-futures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72855"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72933,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72855\/revisions\/72933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}