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Tampa Bay Rays crack top 5 in MLB’s power rankings

By Seth Carter

ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - JULY 17: Diego Castillo #63 of the Tampa Bay Rays trains during a summer workout at Tropicana Field on July 17, 2020 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - JULY 17: Diego Castillo #63 of the Tampa Bay Rays trains during a summer workout at Tropicana Field on July 17, 2020 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /
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Tampa Bay Rays News: MLB.com just released their renewed power rankings for the renewed 2020 season and they didn’t cheat the Rays.

The Tampa Bay Rays have been getting national attention in the leadup to the 60-game shortened season. Buster Olney, Dave Schoenfield, and Tom Verducci (to name a few) have argued logical reasons on national television as to why this team needs to be taken seriously this season.

"Tampa Bay Rays rapidly becoming World Series favorites"

They tend to point to the incredible bullpen, which led the league in reliever ERA last season, and their trio of aces atop the rotation.

MLB.com’s top 5 power rankings are as follows:

  1. Los Angeles Dodgers
  2. New York Yankees
  3. Houston Astros
  4. Minnesota Twins
  5. Tampa Bay Rays

The biggest question for Tampa Bay revolves around the bats. There’s no doubt the pitching will be top-notch and the big three can square up against anyone. The Rays also have the luxury of superb starting pitching and long relief depth with players like Brendan McKay, Trevor Richards, Ryan Yarbrough, and Yonny Chirinos (to name a few) who can be used to round out the back end of the rotation.

What a luxury that is as guys like Chirinos and Yarbrough would be so much more than the fourth or fifth name mentioned if they were on most other staffs in the league. In fact, Ryan Yarbrough is set to start the second game of the season for the Rays this Saturday.

There are a few questions on offense after the Rays finished 15th in the MLB in runs scored in 2019 and lost Tommy Pham. With the additions of Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, Brian O’Grady, Jose Martinez, Randy Arozarena, Hunter Renfroe, and Manuel Margot, the Rays are now stacked with bats and we look forward to seeing them answer those questions.

It is nice to see the national sports media take notice, but it’s not a coincidence. The team won 96 games in a tough division last year and took the Astros to five games in the ALDS.

They have the 2018 Cy Young winner in Blake Snell, last year’s third-place finisher in Cy Young voting with Charlie Morton, and a guy whom many people think will contend for the award in 2020 in Tyler Glasnow.

Next. Cash sees O'Grady as contributor. dark

Do you think number five is a reasonable spot on the Power Rankings?

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