NEW YORK — “You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose”
The famous quote by college football Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz — especially the first part of it — was being thrown around a lot this past week in the wake of the Tampa Bay Rays’ record-tying 13-0 start to the 2023 baseball season. A start like this from a team with the 28th lowest payroll in baseball — in which they out-scored the opposition 101-30, more than the total runs of 27 other teams, while winning 11 of those games by four or more runs — would ordinarily seem quite phenomenal. Going into the weekend, the Rays led the majors in runs, batting, homers, OPS, total bases and ERA — and according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Rays’ plus-71 run differential in those first 13 games was the best in the modern era (post-1900).
But it does pale somewhat when you consider the quality of the opposition. The four teams the Rays mopped the floor with in winning their first 13 games — Tigers, Nationals, A’s and Red Sox — are all very likely going to finish last this year, and as a further gift from the schedule-maker, 10 of those first 13 games for the Rays were at home. Sure enough, the streak ended Friday night in Toronto when the Rays self-destructed amid a flurry of walks and misplays in the field that led to a 6-3 loss to the Blue Jays, the first team they’d faced this season with a winning record.
