Series Preview: Rays vs Astros
Forty-six games down, one-hundred sixteen to go
The Tampa Bay Rays split their road trip with three wins and three losses, taking two of three against the Toronto Blue Jays and then dropping two of three to the Miami Marlins. The Rays are now 21-25 on the season and are six games back of the New York Yankees. Now the Rays will head back to Tampa to take on the Houston Astros in a three game set.
The Astros enter play on Monday with a 24-22 record and sit 2.5 games back of the Seattle Mariners for the division lead. Houston is 6-4 over their last 10 games and most recently split a four game series with the Texas Rangers.
The Astros best player nearly two months into the season has been former Ray, Isacc Paredes, whom Houston acquired from the Chicago Cubs in the offseason. Paredes is currently hitting .259/.372/.434 with 7 HR and has registered a 136 wRC+ and accrued 1.8 fWAR over 45 games. Jeremy Pena (130 wRC+ | 1.6 fWAR) and Jake Meyers (120 wRC+ | 1.3 fWAR) have also been solid players. Three players that have NOT been good for Houston are key members of their roster: Jose Altuve (83 wRC+ | 0.0 fWAR), Yordan Alvarez (79 wRC+ | -0.2 fWAR), and Christian Walker (83 wRC+ | -0.1 fWAR); Alvarez is currently on the Injured List. It should also be noted that the experiment to put Jose Altuve in the outfield has been a disaster (-6 DRS | -2 OAA).
Pitching wise, Hunter Brown has been the best pitcher in all of baseball and the Rays get to face him on Wednesday; Brown currently leads all pitchers in fWAR (2.4) and leads the American League in ERA (1.43) & FIP (1.92). Meanwhile the Houston bullpen is loaded with arms capable of delivering in high leverage situations: Steven Okert, Bryan Abreu, Josh Hader, and Bryan King have stood out.
Frivolities
- The top players by career WAR to have played for the Rays and Astros:
- Dwight Gooden
- Carlos Pena
- Scott Kazmir
- Aubrey Huff
- Julio Lugo
- The Rays best player offensively against the Astros all-time (min. 25 PA):
Tim Beckham: .424/.441/.727 with 1 HR over 34 PA
The next four are Corey Dickerson, Wander Franco, BJ Upton, & Brandon Guyer - The Rays most previous transaction with the Astros
— 8/1/22: Rays trade Jayden Murray to the Astros and Seth Johnson to the Orioles. Astros trade Jose Siri to the Rays and Chayce McDermott to the Orioles. Orioles trade Trey Mancini to the Astros. - The Rays first transaction with the Astros
— 4/13/00: Rays select Dwight Gooden off of waivers from the Astros
Probable pitchers are projected by FanGraphs
GAME ONE
Monday, May 19th
7:05 PM EDT
RHP Ryan Pepiot vs LHP Colton Gordon
GAME TWO
Tuesday, May 20th
7:05 PM EDT
RHP Zack Littell vs RHP Ryan Gusto
GAME THREE
Wednesday, May 21st
1:10 PM EDT
RHP Taj Bradley vs RHP Hunter Brown