A question being asked by most baseball fans is will the Tampa Rays be able to hold off the Red Sox and Yankees to win the AL East. My answer to the question is no and here's why:
1) Lack of Experience
The have no postseason experience besides Eric Hinskie. The team is filled with tremendous young talent like Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, and Carlos Pena. The Red Sox and Yankees have been in tight playoff races before and have been in the playoffs and World Series. In a couple of years they will be on top of the entire league.
A) Lack of Experience in their Rotation
- B/R Ticket Guide
None of their pitchers have ever pitched in a pennant race and I believe they will be rattled in a sold out Fenway or Yankee Stadium at the end of August or in early September.
2) They are Unproven on the Road
Almost two thirds of the Tampa Rays games have been at home. This means that they will have to play in Fenway and Yankee Stadium near the end of the season. Both the Red Sox and Yankees win most of the games they play at home. This means that they will have to win in a sold out Fenway and Yankee Stadium. That will not be an easy task.
3) Manny Ramirez is out of Boston
Manny being Manny was no longer cute in Boston. His distractions were definitely affecting their play on the field, although they may not admit it. Jason Bay adds another bat to their line up. And literally two seconds ago Bay hit a three run home run over the green monster.
My prediction is that the Red Sox will over take the Rays for first place and the Rays will win the AL Wild Card. Yes, I believe even with the lack of experience the rays are better. If the Rays face the Angels or Red Sox in the round I believe that is when they will exit. If they are lucky enough to play the White Sox or Twins I think they have enough to beat them in a 5 game series.
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4 months ago
I was thinking the exact same thing... we think a lot alike!
4 months ago
Here's what I've been thinking:
2 of your comments could be applied to why the red sox won't win: manny out of boston, troubles on the road.
you see, they kinda have swept each other so far, and both have underbalanced home-road records, even for baseball, so its fair to say the home-advantage swings both ways, right?
the manny trade might have been good for the club's ego, but what has Jason Bay proven to anyone outside of PITTSBURGH? What does he know about pressure? about the elite pitching of the AL east? manny is a proven playoff bat against the best hitters in the AL East, Bay homers off of an obviously unprepared Eveland and Boston bandwagon fans start creaming themselves.
Now as for things that are completely wrong, how many "veteran" SPs would you like to take you to the playoffs? I can't think of any. You know why? CAUSE THEY'RE OLD. Young pitching wins the world series, thats a fact. You put young starting pitching in front of a great inside-out D with a solid bullpen backing you up (Gee, that sounds like a certain Division leader you've been trashing). thats the secret. Veteran experience is bull, this isn't the NHL, and the playoffs for all people talk is just an overblown crapshoot. Sometimes great bats miss, sometimes good pitchers fall, sometimes Bucky Dent comes to bat, you know what I'm saying?
from 4 months ago
Well Bay came through under pressure the night before hitting a triple off the monster in the 12th inning. What I was saying is that The Rays have mostly road games left, and Fenway and Yankee Stadium aren't easy to win at late in the season.
The Red Sox had Schilling, Wakefield, and Beckett led them and I would consider all of them veterans!
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