Tampa Bay Rays

Despite sitting in 4th place in the American League East with a 37-35 record, the Tampa Bay Rays' season is not over just yet.

They have scored the most runs in the AL, and have an expected Win-Loss record of 42-30. Their expected W-L (based on runs scored and runs against) would put them in second place in their division, with the second best record in the AL.

This team is still stacked, and still improving. They are about as close as you can be to a complete offensive club. They hit, they run, and they hit for power.

For the past three nights, the Tampa Bay Rays brought back memories of the 2008 World Series—a series they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies.

On Tuesday night, the Phillies returned to Tropicana Field for a rematch and Rays management expected a filled house to greet them. There were plenty of factors to assume this. First, no World Series rematch had ever drawn less than 37,000 fans.

Second, the Phillies have long trained in Clearwater—a short distance away from Tropicana field, creating a huge following.

With only two and a half weeks until the All-Star break, it is safe to wonder where the Rays magic from last season has gone. 

Has it subsided for just the first half of the season? Will it come back, or were the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays a one-time thing?  Being 37-35 and fourth in the Al East leaves the question of whether this team can pull it back together.

One can only assume, but if we look at the clubs strengths and weaknesses it may just give us the answer to the question that we have all been wandering.

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The Tampa Rays are positioned to take the American League East. 

They’ve been through their injuries. The Rays have played without BJ Upton, Evan Longoria, Jason Bartlett, Akinori Iwamura, Shawn Riggans, Pat Burrell, Troy Percival, Scott Kazmir, Chad Bradford, Jason Isringhausen, and Brian Shouse. 

Tampa Bay lost its replacement center fielder before the season even started, and they are only six games back.

After being swept out of the 2007 playoffs by the Colorado Rockies, the Philadelphia Phillies were determined to not repeat their failures in 2008. After clinching their second straight division title, the Phillies dispatched the hot Milwaukee Brewers and took out Manny Ramirez and the rejuvenated Los Angeles Dodgers.

Anyone who knows Ubaldo Jimenez knows that his boyhood hero is Pedro Martinez. Jimenez watched his fellow country man dominate opposing Major League hitters from his home in the Dominican Republic.

Team of the Week: Tampa Bay Rays (pictured above)

Bust of the Week: Kansas City Royals

Well, by now, we've started to fall into the routine of summer baseball. A loss, a couple wins, then another loss...

Anyhow, mid-season baseball has begun to settle in, and the back-and-forth patterns have started to show themselves. For example, 24 out of the 30 total teams have a record between 4-6 and 6-4 in their last ten games, and currently the longest win/loss streak is just five.