Riding The Roller Coaster

Win 4, then lose 3

Win 6, then lose 3

Win 9 out of 10 (including 7 straight), then lose 4

This may be one of the streakiest teams I have ever seen. For a few games, the Rays look like a team full of stars and a strong World Series contender. For the next few games, the Rays look hung-over, tired, slow, sluggish, and just bad. During the wins, the Rays putting up a 7 spot on their opponent is standard. Over the last 4 games, the Rays have scored 7 runs, total.

The Rays are 19-11 since June 2nd. That equates to winning 2 out of every 3 games in every series except one. If you project that record out over 162 games, the Rays would win 102 games, which would easily be good enough for a playoff berth. However, thanks to a slow start, the Rays record on June 2nd was 25-28, which means at this pace the Rays would finish with 95 wins. I would project that 95 wins would be on the fringe of making the playoffs with the Red Sox winning consistently and the Yankees having a resurgent season.

Although from a distance, it looks as though the Rays are steadily climbing up a hill quickly by winning 2/3 on average. However, they aren’t going uphill quickly enough and the reason is the losing streaks. Riding this roller coaster cannot continue. The Rays need to maximize the highs and minimize the lows.

After a slow start, this team needs to be great, not good. By allowing the cold streaks to get very cold, they Rays are playing themselves out of playoff contention. The Rays are 6 games out of 1st, 5 out of 2nd, and slipping. There is still time to make up this margin, but the Rays are making it more and more difficult on themselves. It is time for the Rays to make life easier by hopping off the roller coaster and instead just quickly climbing up the hill they have created for themselves. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why this is necessary.