“I know I play for a small-market team, but obviously I play hard and I do the things I do to be able to get that contract — and eventually I think it will happen, regardless of if it’s here or not,” Arozarena said in Spanish through an interpreter. “I know we’re in the business of the big leagues, but regardless of the market, all teams have a lot of money.”
The Rays, as usual, are getting a lot for their money: Their player payroll ranks among the majors’ lowest — roughly $73 million on opening day, ahead of only Baltimore and Oakland — but they have dominated baseball in nearly every category.
The hitters lead the A.L. in barrel percentage, hard-hit percentage and exit velocity, and the pitching staff is the only one in the majors to rank in the top three in all those categories. Statcast confirms those figures, but it’s a time-tested formula: Hit the ball hard and keep your opponents from doing the same.
“It looks a lot more complicated from the outsider’s perspective than it actually maybe is inside,” Snyder said.
The Rays’ schedule is getting much tougher now. Their opponents in March and April had a combined .427 winning percentage through Wednesday, but none of their May opponents had a losing record entering the month. But the Rays — who have made the playoffs four years in a row — are finding that nobody doubts them anymore.
“Before, it was: ‘We’re this, we’re that, we’re a gimmick,’ and suddenly, this year, we’re good,” Mottola said, speaking of the national impression of the Rays. “And it’s almost a little concerning — you’re going, ‘Wait, wait, we have to keep that underdog mentality.’ If we get stale and complacent and believe that we’re good, then we lose what we’re good at — if that makes sense.”
