Rays Quietly Crushing Everyone

Their highest-paid player is hitting .187. Their third highest-paid player just got demoted. They can't even draw 23,000 per game.

Oh, and the cash-minting Yankees and Red Sox just can't keep up with them; they are probably the best team in baseball.

No one writes all that much about the Rays, because, lets face it, there aren't that many Rays fan to read it; kind of a tree-falls-in-the-forest-but-no-one-hears-it conundrum. (Seriously, if you are a Rays fan, post in the comments section to prove your existence ... you currently fall somewhere in between the Loch Ness Monster and intellectually stimulating Jersey Shore characters on my "myth-or-real" spectrum.)

But this team isn't going away. At 20 games over .500, the Rays are tied for the fourth-best start in the AL since the 1961 expansion.

Will they finish the year ahead of the Yankees in the standings? Maybe. Not a lot of offenses can compete with the star power of the Yankees, who lead the league in runs, OBP, and OPS, despite losing their starting CF (and most expensive offensive acquisition this past offseason) and DH to injuries. Nick Swisher (hitting .299 with 7 homers) in the six-hole on a banged up lineup is not too shabby.

But the Rays have found a way to create even more separation between themselves and the Yankees — along with the rest of baseball — on the other side of the equation. An offense doesn't have to be that great to win a lot of games when the other team's offense scores 3.14 runs per game on your pitching staff.

The Rays have gotten outstanding efforts from each starter in its staff and consistent relief pitching. There are zero holes on this staff or bullpen. With Matt Garza and David Price leading the way, the pitchers have a combined 2.80 ERA. Only the Giants can match their opponents batting average (.225). Only the Cardinals have more quality starts (33 to 32).

But the Cardinals still run out Kyle Lohse once every five days, the Giants will at least relent with Todd Wellemeyer. The worst pitcher in the Rays' rotation is 24-year-old Wade Davis, who has the audacity to sport a 3.35 ERA. Sure, peripherals like his 1.38 WHIP belies the fact that he may be getting a bit lucky, but we're nitpicking; he's the five starter. Plus, with 14 career starts to his name, he's unlikely to have peaked. And this means the Rays have a very good chance to win every game they play, no matter who they face.

Meanwhile, somehow the Red Sox are just waking up after shuffling along through April. Apparently replacing an incredibly productive year from Jason Bay with Mike Cameron and Adrian Beltre wasn't ideal for a fast start, and building your team around a star-studded pitching staff works poorly when the starters post a staff ERA of 4.84, good for 26th in baseball, just better than Washington, but just worse than Baltimore and Arizona. Paging the corpses of Josh Beckett and John Lackey.

The Yankees, meanwhile, have been good. And they may very well catch the Rays. It is only late May. But keep in mind, each of the other four AL teams that started as well as the Rays won their division. And all but the 2001 Mariners made the World Series.

So his team isn't going anywhere; we're past the fluke stage. To be fair, many predicted this team could get to the playoffs, despite the time-share that the trio of powers in the East must use for the two possible playoff spots available. But few predicted them being up six games just 44 into the season. Few predicted them being able to win just half their games from here on out and still have 92 wins.

Hint: they will win more games than that. Probably substantially more.

Evan Longoria is one of the best five to 10 hitters in the game. Carl Crawford is playing well, but not over his head. Free agent acquisition Rafael Soriano has made last year's void at closer a newfound strength. James Sheilds and Jeff Niemann add crucial starting pitching depth. Ben Zobrist, while the power he displayed last season seems to be overstated, has shown that his ability to get on base was not a mirage. And former all-star Hank Blalock has been added to an offense that could use some depth, after tearing up AAA Durham before last week's call-up.

The scary thing is that, as in their AL title run two years ago, no one on the team is really playing way beyond his potential. In other words, more players numbers (mainly on the offensive side) could easily see stats improve rather than worsen.

This team will never be as sexy as a Yankees team that spends nearly three times the money on players, or a Red Sox team not far behind. But Tampa Bay can thank shrewd use of a limited payroll (yet not quite pitiful at over $75,000,000), and even more thanks to an incredibly productive farm system (and baseball's rules allowing them to hold onto their produce for five years before having to pay market price).

So the Rays are even more attractive in the place that matters most: The W column of the standings.

Hopefully someone in the Tampa-St. Pete metro area (and maybe even a few outside it) takes the time to notice and appreciate it.