Blue Jays AL East Recap: Jays soaring out of August

Rays continue to spoil
Tampa Bay Rays: 55-74

The Rays continue to rebuild for next year, and help spoil playoff plans in the process. The Tampa Bay Rays didn’t make it an easy week for the Red Sox, earning a series split.

Tampa Bay’s rotation was magnificent and held the mighty Red Sox offence in check for most of the week. What appeared to be an easy series win for Boston turned out to be a grinding duel. The Rays offence came to life in the last minute against the Houston Astros as they avoided the sweep. The Rays 3-3 week was highlighted by a strong Chris Archer. Archer not only had 10 strikeouts against the Astros on Sunday, but he reached 200 for the second season in a row.

The offence was powered by Corey Dickerson and Mikie Mahtook, who saw an 0-34 streak snapped this week. Veteran Alex Cobb will is poised to join Tampa’s rotation this week, and should further help put pieces in place for 2017.

The Rays also got Nick Franklin back form the disabled list. Just days away from expanded rosters, Tampa Bay will have a lot of new tools to play with.

Next: Surviving the dog days with the Blue Jays

Final Takeaway:

The Rays have enjoyed playing spoiler so far, and will get another chance against both the Red Sox and Blue Jays this week. Expanded roster means new tools for the Rays, and position auditions for next season.