Tampa Bay Rays: Checking in on the Simulated Season

Since the Tampa Bay Rays and the rest of the major leagues are still waiting for several chips to fall in place for the season to start, we take a look how the Rays are progressing in the simulated season.

Baseball-Reference has a standings tracker here. The simulation is being conducted by Out of the Park Baseball 21. The Tampa Bay Rays are currently seven games out of first place with a 23-22 record. Here’s a look at the standings:

AL EAST OOTP 21 Simulation

1. New York Yankees (29-14)
2. Tampa Bay Rays (23-22)
3. Toronto Blue Jays (19-24)
4. Boston Red Sox (19-25)
5. Baltimore Orioles (16-27)

The good news is the Rays are currently in second place. The simulation shows the Yankees do look dominant on paper. It also has the Blue Jays promising young talent stepping taking steps in their progression already.

The Boston Red Sox appear to be suffering from Chris Sale’s injury and the loss of Mookie Betts. It looks like the Orioles probably have way too many wins.

Individual Stats

A healthy Giancarlo Stanton has blasted 13 homers already but only has .238 average while his teammate Gleyber Torres has matched his dingers with 13 homers and a .311/.395/.579 slash.

Brandon Lowe checks in as the Rays team leader in taters with eight. The good news is he’s slashing .322/.384/.545.

You don’t have to look much farther to find another interesting name. Tied for the team lead in homers is Austin Meadows who hasn’t been taking walks at the same rate but the tradeoff has been Hulk smashing. Meadows has racked up 12 doubles and five triples to go along with his eight homers.

Oh wait, also with eight homers is former Ray Tommy Pham who is hitting .273 with a .491 slugging. Interestingly enough, the man he was traded for, Hunter Renfroe, has taken flight under the wings of Kevin Cash. Renfroe his hitting .270 (three points less than Pham) with the exact same slugging percentage and home run total.

An interesting note as Nate Lowe has started 32 games and hit six homers. Kevin Kiermaier is hitting .209 and Mike Zunino is hitting .179.

Pitching

On the mound, Nick Anderson has a 2.70 ERA in 13.1 innings and 25 strikeouts. His eleven saves have cemented his place as the full-time closer and perhaps the next great closer in the history of baseball. He is currently first in the American League in saves.

It appears age is finally catching up to Charlie Morton, similar to how it did when he was in his twenties. He’s 3-5 with a 6.33 ERA to begin the year.

Blake Snell is off to a solid enough start with a 4-2 record and a 4.05 ERA. Brendan McKay has earned his playing time logging 50.1 innings and logging a 3.58 ERA and a 4-3 record thus far.

Tyler Glasnow has been a little up and down so far with a 1-4 record and a 4.38 ERA.

Hopefully, the rotation begins to shine in the simulated season so the Rays can begin chipping away at that seven-game lead the Yankees have.