The Rays come into town desperately trying to hang on to the second wild card spot and fend off the Oakland A’s, who they are now tied with them thanks to Oakland’s victory over KC last night. Unfortunately, they’ve really only managed to tread water recently even as they’ve played some of the worst teams in the league. In the last three series they’ve won a series against Detroit, lost one against the Mariners, and split one against the Orioles, going exactly .500. The pitching has alternated from dominating opposing teams to blowing leads while the offense has been mostly there.