The New What Next: From One Dome to Another — A Rays Vs. Blue Jays Series Preview of Sorts

Two surging AL East ball clubs — Tampa Bay and Toronto — will start a three-game set Monday, when the Rays head to the Rogers Centre to battle the Blue Jays. The Rays are coming off a huge three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox, which culminated in a bench clearing scrum Sunday, and four consecutive wins overall (5-5 over their last 10). Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are on a six game winning streak (9-1 over their last 10), thanks to a pair of series’ sweeps against the Red Sox and Athletics.

The New What Next: Rays Vs. Blue Jays — A Series Preview of Sorts

Here we go! A month and-a-half (plus) of Spring Training have come to pass, and now we’re on the cusp of 182 meaningful games, in what could be the most successful season in the Rays (now) 16 year history — that is, if Sports Illustrated and ESPN’s predictions come to fruition.

The New What Next: Rays Head to Toronto For the Final Series of the Year

Watching Mo’s last outing at Yankee Stadium almost brought a tear to my cold, grizzled, Rays loving heart. He is a classy guy, and the Evil Empire really did an outstanding job handling his last 1-1/3 inning of work in the Bronx. That said, the Rays have now won 90 games for the fourth consecutive year (fifth out of six) while sweeping the Yankees in that Mall of America like baseball stadium for the first time in their 15 year career. Furthermore, Tampa Bay is riding high on a huge wave of momentum after sweeping two consecutive series, this time outscoring the Yankees 19-3. The pitching was outstanding, the Rays were able to mash the all important timely hits, and Tampa Bay looks primed for the postseason. Next stop Toronto, for the final three game series of the regular season. Tampa Bay Rays are hot at just the right time. Holding a one-game lead atop Cleveland for home-field advantage in the one-game wild-card playoff, their destiny is in their hands with three games left to play. Meanwhile, eight players from the Jays’ opening-day roster are finishing the season on the disabled list — not so good for a team projected to win an obscene amount of games in 2013.

The New What Next: Rays vs. Blue Jays, A Series Preview

The Tampa Bay Rays welcome the Toronto Blue Jays into the Trop Friday night for a three-game set on the heels of a big 7-1 throttling against the Mariners, Thursday night. Mired in a funk extending back 12-games, the Rays took the series from the Mariners after dropping two consecutive to the Diamondbacks and Dodgers. Tampa Bay upped their per game runs average back to 5.3, while the pitching — especially the bullpen — seems to be coming back around. In short, the series previous gave the impression that Tampa Bay is once again stabilizing, and none too soon — the Red Sox have dropped two in a row, and the Rays have been able to regain some ground in the AL East.