Puzzle answers

feeders. The Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays are younger teams, with a lot of money left to spend. Baltimore is ranked 29th in total payroll and the Rays sit at 28. These teams are only going to get better in the coming years, and now have a top three record in the entire league.

The only other team paying their players less is the Oakland Athletics and they are 10-38.

The Astros are a great team and not much needs to be said about why they are succeeding as they have arguably the best all-around roster in the entire league with names like Yordan Alvarez, Jośe Altuve, and Framber Valdez. The Astros started out the season slowly but have caught fire recently, winning 9 out of their last 10 games played.

The Rays on the other hand started out the season historically. Absolutely no one expected it. It lit a spark in a fan base that desperately needed it. The Rays are paying $11 million to their most expensive player former Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher

Zach Eflin, currently 6-1 on the season with a 3.45 era and 52 strikeouts. Eflin is pitching incredibly. The Rays were historically good in the beginning of the year going 13-0; the last team to do this was the ‘87 Milwaukee Brewers. The Rays did fall back a bit afterwards but still have the best record in baseball at 35-14.

The Orioles only sit three games back from the Rays in the American League East at 31-16. This team is led by a very rare talent in switch hitting catcher Adley Rutschman, currently batting .271 which is not the highest on the team but does rank third in the team in on base + slugging percentage, batting average, and home runs. Adley is only making arbitration this season, only being paid $733,990.

So, do the Orioles and the Rays have the strength to make a deep playoff push or will the long season put these teams on the back burner?