Consecutive series losses cost the Rays their spot in the top five
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The Tampa Bay Rays have come out with the right foot forward this year. While they don't have the same star power that other teams do, they are typically one team you can never count out.
Pitching has been solid for the club this year as they hold a team ERA of 3.90, which puts them in the top ten. Offensively, the team holds a .255 team batting average, which ranks them fourth across MLB.
With this, they have led the AL East for almost two months. However, a slip-up last week has allowed the New York Yankees to catch up.
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Consecutive series losses cost the Rays their spot in the top five
Last week, the Rays started it off with a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Unfortunately, they couldn't get much of anything going, getting swept in the series.
Tampa Bay would then turn its attention to the Miami Marlins over the weekend, but struggled against them as well. They avoided the sweep, but still lost the series 1-2, making for a 1-5 week.
With these results, Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter had no choice but to drop the Rays out of the top five and put them at No. 7 in his latest power rankings.
"The Rays drop out of the top five for the first time in six weeks after series losses to the Tigers and Marlins dropped them to 3-10 in their last 13 games. With a plus-seven run differential and a 32-30 expected win-loss record, some level of regression was expected. Now they will look to right the ship against the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels this week."
The Rays were able to bounce back on Tuesday with a 3-1 victory over the Red Sox and will look to keep that momentum going into Tuesday and Wednesday's matchup. Then, it's a weekend series against the Angels, who have been struggling as of late.
The Rays have a great opportunity to get back on track this week.