Does the Tampa Bay Rays victory over the Red Sox all but secure their reign atop AL East?

It should now be clear to all sports fans — you cannot doubt the Tampa Bay Rays. These former underdogs scorched through the last season and won an impressive victory over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night. Wander Franco had two impressive hits that scored significant runs for the team. On top of that, the Tampa Bay bullpen worked its way out of two situations in which the bases were loaded. The 9 – 5 victory over the Red Sox has led the Tampa Bay Rays to now take on the mantle of first place in the AL East. 

However, will the Tampa Bay Rays’ victory streak last, or is this the beginning of the end for this team? The Rays are hoping to build on and develop their American League East division lead and honestly, it does look promising for them. Through their win over the weekend, the Rays ended the Red Sox’s 34-day reign at the top of the AL East division. The Rays have also won a promising three straight games along with 10 out of 15 games since the beginning of the All-Star break. 

During the game, the Red Sox got home runs from both Bobby Dalbec and Xander Bogaerts. Dalbec has a share of the divisional lead since the 28th of June but he fell a half of a game behind the Rays. 

The Rays on the other hand got home runs from both Francisco Meija and Ji-Man Choi. In addition to the home runs, the Rays connected on three different home runs during the game which won the series opener 7 – 3. 

Over the last three games, the Red Sox have given up 29 runs. The Boston team now has a 4.93 ERA following the All-Star break. Of particular note was Evoaldi’s performance as he gave up 6 hits and 6 runs. 

Nick Pivetta versus Shane McClanahan 

One player who has the potential to bring the Rays down a notch is the Red Sox right hander, Nick Pivetta (8 – 4, 4.51 ERA). The 28-year old Pivetta is extremely talented and has not allowed a run over 11 2/3 innings against the Rays during his two career starts. He also faced off against the Rays previously on April 5th when he pitched five scoreless innings and only allowed two hits, walking four and also striking out four. Pivetta’s pitching helped the Red Sox to achieve a hard fought 11 – 2 home victory and he could prove to be the stick in the mud that slows down the Rays’ conquest. 

On the Rays, Shane McClanahan is a 24-year old rookie who has a win-loss record of 3 – 2 and an earned run average of 4.09. McClanahan made his first career start against Boston over the weekend and performed better than expected for such a new player. He allowed three or fewer runs in all of his last eight starts and in the last four starts he has faced up against an AL East rival. He posted a 1 – 2 record with a 3.54 ERA along with over 20 1/3 innings and an impressive 23 strikeouts. 

Although Pivetta is something of a wrecking ball, McClanahan has shown his strength as a pitcher. It is all the more impressive that he is performing so well at such a young age and in his first season. His performance over the weekend suggests that he is a pitcher to continue watching in the coming games and seasons. 

An exciting season 

While the Rays may still be something of an underdog team, they certainly are proving their mettle this season. The resurgence of the team makes for interesting odds, especially when they are up against league juggernauts like the Red Sox. When determining odds, sites like https://www.sidelines.io analyze all of the statistics, current news and player performances in order to determine the most likely results. 

There are still many more weeks in the 162-game MLB season, and it will be interesting to watch to see how teams stack up and continue to perform. The global events of the last 18 months added an increased level of uncertainty as it was unclear how players and teams would work together and what their performances would look like. However, after the last few months of exciting baseball and impressive performances, it is clear that professional baseball has more talent and excitement than ever before.