TORONTO -- It’s been too long to call this a hot start. It’s been too impressive to call it a fluke.
The Rays have essentially played a quarter of their schedule, and they have the best record in the American League at 27-13 after Monday night’s 8-5 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
What the Rays have done so far has matched the 2020 club for the third-best 40-game start in franchise history, trailing only the 2023 (30-10) and 2010 (29-11) teams. The Braves (28-13) are the only team in the Majors with a better record than a Tampa Bay team that was widely projected to finish last in the AL East when the season began only 6 1/2 weeks ago.
They’ve won nine of their last 10 games and an MLB-best 25 of 33 since April 4, and they are a mind-boggling 19-3 against American League competition. According to MLB Network research, the Rays are also the first AL East team to win nine of their first 10 games against divisional opponents since the 1992 Blue Jays (also 9-1).