Jun 2, 2026 2:03 AM
The Tampa Bay Rays slipped slightly in this week’s national power rankings despite another series win and a 36-20 start. After a rough road trip exposed some bullpen and pitching concerns, Tampa Bay now enters a critical stretch where the front office may need to get aggressive to maintain control o
The Tampa Bay Rays are coming off a series win over the weekend against the Los Angeles Angels, and continue to show their dominance not just at home in Tropicana Field, but as a potential World Series threat coming out of the American League. It was a much needed series win after a rough road trip.
After the series win, the Rays are 36-20 on the young season and hold a narrow 1.5-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East.
On Monday, Bleacher Report dropped its latest power rankings, and the Rays, after a shaky road trip they appeared on the rankings at No. 4.. B/R writer Joel Reuter addressed the reason for the fall
“The Rays losing streak reached a season-high four games before they righted the ship over the weekend. Now they have a golden opportunity to reclaim some of the ground they lost as their next 12 games are against the Tigers, Marlins, Red Sox, and Angels. The Yandy Díaz-Jonathan Aranda-Junior Caminero trio continues to do an excellent job shouldering the load offensively. “
There were not too many players in the majors last month who played as well as Jonathan Aranda did. In May, he posted a 1.025 OPS and a 183 wRC+, well above the league average.
Will Leitch of MLB.com also moves the Rays down, but even lower than usual. Tampa Bay came in 5th in his power rankings this week. “On Thursday and Saturday, Rays starters gave up five runs or more. They had done that only twice in the previous 52 games. (They are still in first place, do not worry.) ”
The Rays' pitching staff took a big step back over the last month, as they are now 8th in baseball with a 3.79 team ERA. A few games where they were outscored by 10 or more runs definitely don’t help the cause.
Adding it, of course, the injury concerns that continue to hit the Rays' bullpen, and the lack of aggressiveness in making moves by the Rays' front office, continue to be concerning. Eric Neander needs to make some trades earlier than most to keep the AL East advantage throughout the summer.
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