Granted it’s not September—or even July—but the fact remains the Rays just completed the best April (14-12) in team history. At 15-12 overall, only the Red Sox finished the first month of the season with a better record in the AL East.

Starting pitching has shown more depth early on than anyone expected, and the offense is scoring more runs than anyone thought possible.

Who has been the biggest suprise? Andy Sonnanstine (4-1)? Rookie Evan Longoria?

The “biggest surprise” to general population is that upon examination, virtually every move (trades and signings) made by the TB DRay front office in past 3+ seasons has resulted in positive growth of the team.

Extending signings include CC, Longoria, Pena, Shields

FA pickups include Iwamura, Hinske, Floyd, Pena, Percival

Received in Trades include Kazmir, Bartlett, Navarro, Jackson, Wheeler, Harper, Aybar (when he is activated he’s got a strong career BA), Garza

Developed players include Upton, Longoria, Riggans, Shields, Sonnanstine, Hamel, Niemann

Can’t wait for Kazmir to log a couple months of healthy starts so DRays can then offer him up in trade for a frontline 2B or RF

A lot of “experts” had the Rays on their “teams to watch” lists, but I figured that the team could be a lot better than it has been in the past—not exactly difficult—but not necessarily have it be reflected in their record. Toronto, for instance, has poured a lot of money into its roster over the last 2-3 years and still hasn’t been able to break through the Red Sox-Yankees stranglehold at the top of the division.

True dat....But they can be given a modest dose of forgiveness for not accurately anticipating time lost to injuries for Roy Halliday, BJ Ryan, Troy Glaus.  Plus, the NYY and BOS during past four seasons have been sufficiently strong to hit 95+ wins apiece.  That’s not the case this year with the Yankees who will be battling to hit 85 wins