Safe to say, this isn’t the year either of these teams wanted. Before the baseball season began, MLB.com considered Tampa Bay a “strong contender” with playoff aspirations; the Orioles they put in the category of “World Series or bust.” Unfortunately, as of last week, both teams were eliminated from the playoffs.

The Rays ended June just 1.5 games out of first place in the AL East, but after a dreadful July in which they went 7-18, for a .280 win percentage, they were never higher than fourth in the division again.

Tampa Bay is kind of confounding in its badness this year: they’re a Top 10 pitching staff, and solidly average in hitting. (By comparison, the Orioles are around 21st in offensive metrics and 24th in pitching.) The likely explanation for the Rays’ problems is bullpen trouble:

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