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The Tampa Bay Rays currently hold a 1.5-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East and have the best record in the American League at the moment. Across all of Major League Baseball, only the Braves and Dodgers have a better winning % than the Rays.
For context, the Dodgers have the league’s second-highest payroll at over $300,572,388 and the Atlanta Braves have the sixth-highest payroll at $267,141,712. The Yankees are spending over $291 million to trail the Rays. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays have a payroll of just $103,163,712. They are basically paying $1 for every $3 the Dodgers spend and they are seeing similar results. Unreal!
How are they doing it? By flipping conventional wisdom on its head and exploiting a market deficiency within Major League Baseball to their advantage.
How The Tampa Bay Rays Are Using Analytics To Dominate The American League
I hadn’t heard of Podcast Doesn’t Exist until today but I became an immediate fan this morning after two of my BroBible colleagues sent me the same video (below) within a matter of minutes. In the clip, they break down how the Tampa Bay Rays have balked at baseball‘s insistence on launch angle and hard hit percentage and instead swooped up all of the other ballers in the league who are now seen as overvalued in the eyes by teams all chasing the same analytical approach.
Currently, the Rays’ Offense rank 13th in Runs, 7th in Hits, 28th in Home Runs, 14th in RBIs, but they have the fewest Strike Outs in the league and have the 5th most Stolen Bases. On the pitching side, the Rays are tied with the 3rd most Wins, have the 6th best ERA in the league, have given up the 6th fewest Hits, and they’ve surrendered the 5th fewest runs scored.
What gives? Check out the clip below:
As a Tampa Bay local and fan of the team, I would love to see this success continue all season. The Rays have made, and lost, two World Series in franchise history. Getting over the hump in the Playoffs has always seemed out of reach.
So what remains to be seen is if this new approach by the Tampa Bay Rays can (1) be sustained over the entire course of the season and (2) will be enough to win it all in October. Only time will tell. Now go smash the ‘follow’ button on that YouTube channel above.