The Tampa Bay Rays' offense is heating up at the perfect time for the MLB playoffs. After scoring 14 runs to sweep the Houston Astros, Victor Mesa Jr., Chandler Simpson and others are giving Tampa Bay the lineup depth it needs for a World Series run.
The Tampa Bay Rays have given us plenty of reasons to believe they can make a run in October.
But there has been one question I've continued to come back to.
Can this offense consistently score enough runs?
I'm starting to think we have our answer, based on how the team made a statement to end the weekend.
The Rays finished off a sweep of the Houston Astros on Sunday with a 14-4 victory at Tropicana Field.
They finished with 15 hits. They hit four home runs. Every player in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit.
But maybe the most impressive part?
And let's be clear, that's not a knock on Junior.
It's actually the exact opposite. For a large portion of this season, Tampa Bay's offense has depended heavily on Caminero, Yandy Díaz, and Jonathan Aranda, and when that trio produced, the Rays usually had a pretty good chance of scoring runs.
When they didn't?
That's where some of the problems started. For example, the big summer slump that is hard to forget.
But this lineup looks considerably different right now.
Victor Mesa Jr., Chandler Simpson and Nick Fortes combined for six RBIs on Sunday, and Richie Palacios drove in three more.
Aranda had another huge performance with two home runs and three RBIs, while Tampa Bay scored 14 runs without needing its best hitter to drive in any of them.
That seems like a great problem to be dealing with heading into the final games of the year. You expect good performances from Caminero, and he will definitely produce once October rolls around, but the rest of the lineup is where you normally have your concerns. However, right now, it's looking just fine.
We've slowly watched this offense become more consistent over the last few weeks, and now it feels like Tampa Bay can get production from almost anywhere.
And that's exactly what this team needs in October.
The Rays already have the pitching to win games in the postseason
We've known that for quite some time, with multiple starters making the MLB All-Star Game.
The biggest question was whether the offense could consistently give that pitching enough support.
With 13 games remaining in the regular season, that question isn't nearly as concerning as it was a few weeks ago. And as long as they keep swinging the bats well from the top to the bottom of the order, it's going to be very difficult to stop the World Series trophy from heading to Tampa Bay.
