ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Officially, the regular season ends on Oct. 5. The way the Rays are going, it could end much, much sooner.
This team has found itself in a dangerous race against time, attrition and wild-card contenders. The Rays are like a NASCAR team gambling they can reach the checkered flag before running out of gas.
The hopeful outlook is they’ll be fine if they can just survive until September. Manuel Margot should be back by then. Maybe Wander Franco and Harold Ramirez, too. The pitching staff could also get reinforcements from among a half-dozen pitchers rehabbing on the 60-day injured list.