The G League’s Zach Eflin Rays are the 2024 team of the year….
The Rays are not playing good baseball heading into the end of May as summer quickly approaches. Currently, the team is suffering through a six-game losing streak and is falling back down the standings, sitting in fourth place in the AL East, just one game ahead of the last place Toronto Blue Jays.
So, the question that needs to be said: what exactly needs to change here?
The Tampa Bay offense is a place to start, as the team has not scored more than five runs in a single game during this losing skid. This creates problems, as the Rays cannot depend entirely upon their pitching while suffering from a beat-up rotation. A recent injury to Zach Eflin, who is now on the 15-day IL as of May 20, further complicates things. The pitching is understandably going to take a step back for Tampa Bay during such a stretch, meaning the offense is going to have to step up.
The source of these offensive struggles have been a mixed bag. Some games, Tampa Bay struggled to even get hits, as half of the games during this losing streak have seen the Rays produce fewer than five base hits. Other times, like the Rays’ 8-5 loss to the Boston Red Sox on May 22, the batters just cannot plate runners in scoring position. The Rays, in that particular game, went 2-11 with runners in scoring position. As of right now, Tampa Bay is ranked 22nd in the league in batting with scoring opportunities present.
