The number 13 lives under the shadow of a stigma that relates it to bad luck and negative events, but there are extraordinary cases in which it ends up becoming the opposite: a victorious number or a date of happiness that is saved forever. . That is the story of the Tampa Bay Raysfor whom the number 13 will mean, from now on, one of the most positive memories for their franchise and their fans.
On Thursday, April 13, the Rays posted their 13th straight win of the current Major League Baseball season (MLB) and with it they equaled the best winning streak of a season start in the 123 years of the modern era that the most powerful baseball organization on the planet has.
During that long period, only two teams had achieved the magical initial record of 13-0: the Atlanta Braves of 1982 and the Milwaukee Brewers of 1987. Previously, those who had come closest were the Oakland Athletics of 1981 (with 11 victories), the cleveland indians of 1966, the Pittsburgh Pirates of 1962 and the dodgers (then in Brooklyn) from 1955 (with 10 wins).
It was until 2003 when the Kansas City Royals they touched ten wins at the start of the season with a 9-0 scoreline, but after their unsuccessful success, a total of 36 years had to pass for that achievement to materialize at the hands and arms of players like Brandon Lowe, Wander Franco, Drew Rasmussen and a couple of Mexicans: Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes, who can already boast on their resume that they are part of the Rays’ history.
“This is very exciting, I congratulate all the guys (on the roster). I am very happy to have accomplished this feat at home (at Tropicana Field Stadium) because we have some great fans who pushed us with shouts of support when we needed it,” said Kevin Cash, the manager of the Rays, at the end of the game on the 13th. -0, which seasoned history for a comeback starting in the fifth inning against the Boston Red Sox.
The Rays’ idyll began on Saturday, April 8, when they posted their second win of the series against the Oakland Athletics by a massive 11-0 score. That was their eighth win and marked the best start to a season for a team since the 2016 Orioles went 7-0. From that day on, every Tampa Bay game win made sports headlines.
Then came another 11-0 victory over Oakland and immediately the series against Boston with favorable results of 1-0, 7-2, 9-7 and the historic 9-3, which marked the record of 13-0 on Thursday, September 13. April. The history of that last game had to be written with heroic overtones, since Tampa Bay had to come back from 1-3 that sank it until the fifth inning thanks to Colombian Harold Ramírez, who from that moment produced a double and three runs.
A total of 21,175 spectators witnessed the historic 13th victory, achieving the second largest stadium capacity of the season behind only Opening Day, which reflects the enthusiasm of Tampa Bay fans for the positive start and also for the ways in which they have come this far.
The Rays are the 2023 MLB leaders in the following categories: runs, with 101 (the Dodgers are their closest pursuer with 79); home runs, with 32; runs batted in, with 99; and the OPS average with .940. In addition, their run differential of +71 is the best during the first 13 games of a season since 1884 and, to put a more current context in terms of game dynamics, it also surpasses the most recent ones, such as the +61 that they achieved the Dodgers in 2022 on their 12-win streak.
As for the interesting statistics for Mexico, Randy Arozarena He is listed as the team leader with 16 RBIs, an amount that exceeds the sum of those he achieved between 2021 and 2022 (in the months of March and April) and three home runs. He is the third leading contributor of runs with 11, behind only Brandon Lowe (12) and Yandy Díaz (13).
For his part, Isaac Paredes from Sonora has contributed the fifth most runs with eight, in addition to three home runs and 10 RBIs, already exceeding those he achieved in full in the 2020 (6) and 2021 (5) seasons.
“The Rays were already a strong team on paper before the season began and what they have done against lesser opposition to date (Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox) is remarkable. All those wins and runs have gotten Tampa Bay off to a fast start to the season. Surely the Rays will be challenged as the months go by, but now the onus is on the competition to chase them down,” explains Bradford Doolittle, ESPN baseball analyst.
It’s true: barely 8% of MLB 2023 regular-season games have been played (13 of 162 total), but in that 8% the Rays are 100% effective. Starting in May, the series against the Yankees, Oriols, Mets, Brewers and Dodgers will arrive, which will test the historic start, the one in which only three teams have managed to place their names.
