How Are They Doing It? The Rays Are in First Place

The off season was not friendly to the Tampa Bay Rays, other teams in the league raided Tampa Bay's roster, taking away almost half of their players via trades and free agency. Boston signed star outfielder Carlos Crawford away from the Rays; Detroit signed away Joaquin Benoit and the Yankees took Rafael Soriano. To combat the flood of players exiting Tampa Bay the Rays signed free agents Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez. But less than one month into the season, Ramirez announced his immediate retirement, leaving the Rays once again in roster trouble.

Expectations for the Rays were low to begin the season, analysts harped on the exodus of players from their ranks in the off season placing them to finish in the middle of the pack in the American League East. The Rays lived up to expectations to begin the season, losing their first six games of the year. After dropping to last place in the division, things changed, since the first week of the year the Rays have had the best record in all of baseball.

Behind the arms of their two best starters David Price and James Shields the Rays have been able to rely on pitching ability to overcome the offensive struggles that accompany a shifting roster. With the retirement of Ramirez, Evan Longoria lost his protection in the lineup, leading him to push and ultimately land on the 15-day disabled list. With arguably their best player on the DL the Rays once again had to find a way to win with the cards they had been dealt.

As is the case on teams with uncertain lineups several young players, as well as some previously silent veterans, have stepped into the spotlight for the Rays to help propel them to first place in the division. Outfielder Sam Fuld has taken to his new place on the team, he was brought in to help replace some of the talent that was lost, mainly Crawford, and he has performed impressively.

At first Fuld made his mark with his bat, racking up 13-RBI and a .293 on-base-percentage before the Rays realized what his real calling card was; his glove. To date, Fuld's defensive abilities have saved 9 runs from scoring. Crawford averaged 17 saved runs per season, with the start that Fuld has had he is on pace to well surpass that number.

He was a toss-in piece in the Matt Garza to Chicago trade in the off season, and he has already endeared himself to Rays fans, or at least the ones that show up. As his offensive numbers continue to dip he will have to lean heavily on his defensive skills, and from what he's shown they are more than able to keep him in the majors.

Second baseman Ben Zobrist has stepped up his game this season, putting up great offensive numbers including a 10-RBI day, between both games of a double-header. While racking up eight home runs and 27 RBI's, Zobrist has recorded a .288 batting average on the year.  

With a combination of a strong top of the rotation and contributions from young players like Fuld and veterans like Damon and Ben Zobrist, the Rays are beating all odds and sitting atop the American League East. With one of the smallest payrolls in the majors the Rays are beating out the $300 million New York Yankees for the division title. 

MLB Commissioner Selig Expects 10-Team Playoffs in 2012

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said that he expects the playoff system in the MLB to expand to include 10 teams starting in 2012, although this has yet to be approved by the owners or the players. With a new team being added to each division's postseason, there would be an additional "wild card round" that the MLB would have to format.

The players and the owners currently differ on how they would like to see the new wild card round formatted, the owners want it to be a one-game series, hoping to give immediate intensity to the playoffs. The players however, would like to see a five-game series to open the playoffs to give teams more of a chance to win the series.

ESPN insider Tim Kurkjian details the Commissioner's plan and the reactions from the owners and players.
http://youtu.be/F69EbNtMvR8

With the upcoming collective-bargaining agreement between the MLB owners and the MLB Players Association the expanded playoffs could become a sticking point in progress to an agreement with both sides having such different opinions on how the new round should be formatted.

If this new format would have been in place during the 2010 season the playoffs would have looked a bit different; the American League would have sent the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers and the Boston Red Sox to the playoffs. The National League post season teams would have been the San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves and the San Diego Padres.

The jury is still out on the further expansion of the playoffs, but the last post season expansion that Selig backed, bringing the total number of teams to eight, has worked out well to date. With 2012 being Selig's final year as the MLB Commissioner this final expansion could be what defines his tenure.