The Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday nipped the Oakland A's by a score of 4-3, and in doing so pushed their record to 50-22 on the season. That makes them the first team to reach 50 wins in the current Major League Baseball season. The win also put them in elite recent company when it comes to how quickly they got that 50th win of the season:
That current record of 50-22 comes to a winning percentage of 0.694, and that puts them on pace for a franchise-record 112 wins. That would be the fourth-highest single-season win total in MLB history.
Playing a major role in this is the Rays' 13-0 start to the season and their 27-6 mark as of May 5. Some very understandable and predictable regression has set in since then, but the Rays in total remain a juggernaut as we approach the halfway mark of the season. They're also backing up that shiny record with a strong plus-142 run differential, and they've achieved all that despite a high number of pitching injuries and -- perhaps most impressively -- having played one of the toughest schedules to date in all of MLB.
Not surprisingly, the Rays are thriving at all aspects of the game thus far. They rank second in MLB in runs scored, third in ERA, first in defensive efficiency (or the percentage of balls in play that a defense converts into outs), first in steals, and fifth in percentage of extra bases taken. Yes, that's doing it all.
As for Thursday's win, emerging superstar shortstop Wander Franco tallied three hits, Luke Raley hit his 12th home run in just his 53rd game, Manuel Margot added his first home run since April 8, and five Tampa relievers combined to allow one hit and no runs in 4 2/3 innings. They now hold a five-game lead over the Orioles in the American League East, MLB's toughest division thus far.
