The Tampa Bay Rays are looking at 86 wins according to PECOTA projections. Many find projections, especially of the PECOTA variety irrelevant, pointless, and stupid. Others, live and die by the PECOTA projections, and refuse to move off a narrative surrounding a team due to projections.
I am somewhere in the middle. I do not hate the PECOTA projections, but I take them for what they are. Arbitrary measurements of teams that are based on a few handpicked categories that cannot quantify all that goes into a baseball game, team, and season.
The PECOTA projections are only slightly better than using a simulated MLB The Show season to project what will happen in this upcoming season.