Tampa Bay Rays Schedule: Is July Do or Die for the Rays?

It's fare to say that after the 1-8 start the Rays had this year, many could see them out of contention by this month.

While the Rays have since rebounded from their dismal beginning to the season, here in July, they still may be in a make-or-break situation.

Why is this? Well, the team's next 11 games will pit them against the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees—the teams they are currently looking up at in the AL East standings.

The Rays begin their stretch versus the two rivals tonight, when they square off in the first of four games against the Yankees.

If there were such a thing as crucial games in July, here they are.

The Rays have four against the Yanks, three against the Red Sox (after the All-Star break), and then four more with the Bronx Bombers.

Tampa Bay has gone from worst to first and have kept pace, despite falling into third.

But even being just four games back, the Rays have to pounce on every chance they can get in order to return to the postseason.

After the tough stretch that is front of them, the Rays will play their next 20 games against opponents under .500.

But until then, they must hang with their fellow "Beasts of the East"

Pitching has continued to carry the Rays for the most part, but the team has to be thinking about adding a new bat to the lineup if they are to contend. Their 12 runs yesterday was a great sign, but those kind of numbers to this point have been far too sporadic.

The Rays are one of the top six teams in the MLB, record-wise, and have the third best mark in all of the American League.

The top three are all in the East—thus is life in the top division in baseball.

If this trying stretch of games does not go the Rays' way, we may be talking about Tampa Bay as sellers at the trade deadline.

B.J. Upton has been a walking trade rumor for a while now, and even James Shields' name has been brought up as a possible trade-piece, though for a different reason than that before the season began.

If the Rays find themselves eight or nine games out when the trade deadline comes around, those names could find themselves on other teams' jerseys.

The Rays aren't thinking about that one bit, though—they're just focused on keeping up with the high-priced squads up north on the map—and in the standings.

These next 11 games will show us quite a bit about the Rays.

Are they pretenders or contenders? Do they have what it takes to once again slay the payroll giants?

We'll find out sooner than we expected.