The Tampa Bay Rays, which is only 28th in the team salary rankings among 30 major league clubs, are surprising everyone by winning 8 consecutive wins at the start of the 2023 season.
Tampa Bay won 11-0 in the 2023 Major League Baseball Athletics match held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA on the 9th (hereinafter Korean time).
With this, Tampa Bay has been on an 8-game winning streak since the opening. It is the only undefeated record among 30 major league teams.
According to ESPN, an American sports media outlet, the 8 consecutive wins at the start of the season is the second-most ever since the major league postseason wild card system was introduced in 1994. The previous record was set in 2003 when the Kansas City Royals won nine in a row.스포츠토토
If Tampa Bay wins against Oakland again on the 10th, it will be tied with Kansas City. If they win again, the game that will challenge the all-time record is the Boston Red Sox on the 11th.
In particular, the reason why Tampa Bay’s gusts at the beginning of the season are attracting attention is because they show the epitome of ‘low cost and high efficiency’.
They are only 28th out of 30 clubs with a total annual salary of 73.18 million dollars (approximately 96.5 billion won) this season. This is in contrast to the first place New York Mets, $355 million, and the second place, New York Yankees, $275 million.
Furthermore, Tampa Bay continues to have a record of winning by 4 or more points in 8 consecutive games. According to ESPN, it is the best record in 84 years since the Yankees won 10 consecutive games by 4 or more points in 1939. At the time, the Yankees did not have an opening winning streak.
Tampa Bay also scored the winning run in the bottom of the 4th inning with Isaac Paredes’ 2 RBIs on 2nd and 3rd base at the end of the 4th inning. Then, in the bottom of the 5th inning, Brandon Lowe’s 2 RBIs and Paredes’ push-off ball from the bases loaded with one out made it 5-0, and they quickly seized the victory.
In the bottom of the 6th inning, Manuel Mago’s solo homer and Lowe’s 3-run homer added 4 runs, and in the bottom of the 8th Tampa Bay fired a celebration with Randy Arozarena’s 2-run homer.
On the mound, Jeffrey Springs blocked it with 3 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts and no run in 7 innings, and Kevin Kelly blocked 2 innings perfectly.
Japanese pitcher Fujitami Shintaro, who started as Oakland’s starting pitcher that day, performed sluggishly with 3 hits, 4 walks and 5 runs in 4⅓ innings, becoming a losing pitcher. Fujitami, who made her debut on the American stage this season, suffered two consecutive sluggish matches and took her second loss.
