NEW YORK — There are a number of reasons the Rays were able to turn around their season, accelerating from a disappointing 13-15 first month to a majors-best 35-20 at the end of the second before going into the weekend 36-22.
“I don’t know if there is a particular thing,” manager Kevin Cash said during a franchise-best 16-1 stretch, noting the Rays’ strong pitching, solid defense and improved hitting, situationally and in overall production.
“A lot of things have gone our way. And anytime you go on a run like this, you’ve got to play well, but then you also need some things to go your way. And I’d like to think that we’re creating some of those.”
But why were they able to do so?
It helped that they got some injured players back. That they were aggressive in supplementing their pitching staff by calling up several top young arms. And that they played some teams that were struggling.
But there doesn’t appear, from what players and staff have said, to be have been a moment, one definitive action that led to the reaction.
Cash didn’t go all Lou Piniella on the guys, flipping food tables and threatening changes. There were no Joe Maddon-like snakes, magicians or mariachi bands in the clubhouse. The front office crew didn’t put the analytics computers on hyperdrive to find a new efficiency.
The closest there may be to a thing — or at least a convenient media narrative if the Rays stay on pace for 100-plus wins — was hitting coach Chad Mottola’s “there’s no panic” media session the afternoon they launched the 11-game winning streak during which they scored 95 runs.
If anything, the turnaround seems rooted in some less-tangible changes, the players getting more comfortable and confident, with a nod to the adjustment back to a full 162-game season.
Centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier, in his role as the team’s emotional and clubhouse leader, says a lot of things. A common theme during the rough first month was to remind his teammates how much better they could, and would, be.
“Just positive reinforcement to the guys, where I’m saying, ‘Hey, don’t let us get hot. Because when we do, the rest of the league needs to watch out,’” he said. “We expect to be one of the better teams in baseball. We were humbled early on with us scuffling offensively and not getting a whole lot going. But that’s old news.
“We’re happy with what we’ve done as of late, and we want to keep that confidence, that swagger, all these positive vibes rolling for us. It shows with what we’re doing out there each and every day on the field, a lot of fun. We’re confident. And confidence is a great thing to have.”
The success truly has been, as Cash said, a team effort. Outfielder/designated hitter Austin Meadows said the key to the turnaround was relaxing and having more fun.
“After April, I think we started to kind of relax a little bit, and it seemed like we have more fun,” Meadows said. “Obviously, there’s moving parts and stuff, but I feel like the overall mood, just kind of that light mood … and we’re just having fun picking at each other, kind of back to where we were last year.”
Meadows wasn’t sure why, suggesting there was an acclimation process with the new players, mostly pitchers, that were brought in. “Once we hit May, it just seemed like a switch flipped,” he said.
Realistically, it probably was a combination of things, the 11-game streak allowing the team to have the success it planned on going into the season, and thus to enjoy it more.
“We expected more out of ourselves,” veteran infielder Joey Wendle said. “At least for myself, there was never really this fear of, ‘Oh well, maybe we’re not as good as we thought we were.’ It was just, We’re not rolling yet, things are not clicking the way that we anticipate them to at some point in the season.
“Obviously, we’re not going to win 16 out of 17 for the rest of the year. But I think that was more indicative of our team that we are than the first couple of weeks of the season.”
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