A Young Offensive Powerhouse is Born

When the Division Series games were over, I drafted an article in my head about the four remaining teams. The Dodgers, Phillies, Red Sox and Rays were all propelled towards success by great pitching and solid defensive play. Each team had a pair of aces, strong bullpens and among the fewest errors of any team in Major League Baseball. The Phillies proved this fact as they kept the Dodgers offense at bay all series and their bullpen was dominant in all four wins. But something funny happened when TampaBay met Boston, the Rays offense was uncharacteristically dominant.

This was a Tampa team that had no regular starter hit over .300 in the regular season. They had two legitimate home run threats, but one (Evan Longoria) was coming off a wrist injury and the other (Carlos Pena) struck out almost five times as much as he drove one out of the yard. This was your small market, small budget club that relied on under the radar free agent signings and solid, if unspectacular players over flashy stars. Their manager, Joe Maddon, even referred to shortstop Jason Bartlett as his one non-disposable player. Bartlett who hit .280 in the regular season and had one home run was irreplaceable? In Tampa’s system this would be true, and why? Because Bartlett solidified the infield defense, was a smart baserunner and made consistent contact. He was what Tampa’s offense was all about. Until the postseason started.

A first postseason is supposed to be overwhelming for young teams like the Rays. Instead it seemed to light a fire under them. The offense started building against the Chicago White Sox, led by Evan Longoria and his two home runs in his first two postseason at-bats. Then against the Red Sox, the offense absolutely exploded. They hit over .400 with runners in scoring position. They stole successfully over 90% of the time and they got the lead-off man on in seemingly every single inning.

And then there was the long ball. The postseason Rays have been a drastically different team than the regular season Rays. They hit over fifteen homeruns in the nine games against the White Sox and Red Sox. BJ Upton, who had hit only three home runs in his last 250 at-bats in the regular season was hitting what felt like a home run in every at-bat, seeing his postseason total climb to seven by the time the Red Sox series was over. That was good enough to put him one away from tying the record for most home runs in a postseason.

But he wasn’t alone. Longoria joined him with six homeruns heading into the World Series. And if Longoria didn’t put one out, then Carlos Pena was sure to. Heck, even Willy Aybar and Jason Bartlett (who had one HR all season) got in on the fun. Pair that was a healthy and resurgent Carl Carwford, who came alive when he went 5-5 in Game 4, and the top of the Rays lineup was a minefield to pitch through. It was reminiscent of the lineup the Red Sox trotted onto the field last year when opposing pitching staffs needed to get through Ramirez, Ortiz, Youkilis, Drew and Lowell, all healthy and all packing serious punch in their lumber.

So what does this mean for the upcoming World Series? Maybe the Rays will fade, as people have expected all year long, or maybe the fire will continue to burn. After all, teams don’t often come into FenwayPark in the postseason and push Boston around. Teams don’t also weather the Boston comeback like the Rays did. The Yankees couldn’t do it when they lost four straight in 2004 and the Indians couldn’t do it when they lost three straight last year. But they stood up to the challenge. So with continued solid pitching, clutch hitting, rangy defense, great team speed and an explosion of team power doesn’t that classify the Rays as a five-tool team? With those offensive tools now in the bag, they have truly become the team to beat going forward.

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