Rays make history with undefeated start to season
ST. PETERSBURG, FL - APRIL 9: Brandon Lowe #8 of the Tampa Bay Rays (C) celebrates his grand slam home run against the Oakland Athletics with Christian Bethancourt #14 (L) and Isaac Paredes #17 during the fourth inning of a baseball game at Tropicana
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Rays are on such a roll, the only question is which of their stats is most impressive.
They're the first team to start 9-0 since the 2003 Kansas City Royals. They've scored the most runs in baseball (75) and allowed the fewest (18).
They've won every game by at least four runs. The last team to win this many in a row by at least four — at any point in the season — was the 1939 New York Yankees, who did it for 10 straight games.
And here's another tidbit, thanks to the win probability stats
That was Tuesday when Washington led the Rays 6-4 after seven innings and was still ahead 6-5 before Tampa Bay scored five runs in the ninth.
READ: Rays beat A's 11-0, tie best MLB start to a season in 20 years
There is a chicken-and-egg question surrounding Tampa Bay's streak. The Rays have done it all against Detroit, Washington and Oakland, three teams who combined to lose 305 games last year and are expected to be pretty poor this season as well. Is Tampa Bay this good or are those other teams that bad?
The answer to that will come soon enough, but right now the Rays can enjoy a dominant stretch to start the season.