Remember how the Yankees won 100 games last year and didn’t sniff a division race? It was frustrating; the Yankees could sweep an August series and look up at the standings, and the Red Sox were still eight games up. It was almost impossible to imagine coming back to take the AL East after May, and sure enough the Yankees, ended up settling for the Wild Card.
One year later. I can only imagine the fans of the Tampa Bay Rays are in a similar position. The Rays are quite good, projected to win 92 games and earn a playoff berth, but every time they do something well, they’re still stuck nine games behind the division-leading Yankees.