Today, the Tampa Bay Rays begin their 2013 season at 3:10 p.m against Buck Showalter’s Baltimore Orioles, one of the surprise teams of the 2012 season. Expectations for the Rays are huge, partially because of Sports Illustrated‘s prediction that the Rays will advance to their second World Series in six years.
The prediction is a testament to the faith in the Stu Sternberg/Andrew Friedman/Joe Maddon organization, considered one of the best in all of professional sports. The secret to the Rays’ success has always been their outstanding pitching, and the great Tom Verducci lays that out in the current issue of SI with his piece “The Rays Way.”
Verducci wrote, “No franchise better understands how to identify, develop and maintain quality pitchers. The Rays are to pitching what Google is to algorithms.”
This article appears in Mar 28 – Apr 3, 2013.
