An Encouraging Sign

The Rays are 8-6 in games decided by 5+ runs and 3-5 in games decided by one run. Good teams win most of the blowout games, bad teams lose them, and in between you split some one run games. Guess which is more indicative of a team's talent level.  If you don't believe me, look at the last three years of playoff teams:

2008

TB Blowout (27-18, .600), 1R (29-18, .617)

BOS Blowout (33-17, .660), 1R (22-23, .489)

CHW Blowout (30-24, .556), 1R (22-17, .564)

LAA Blowout (20-20, .500), 1R (31-21, .596)

CHC Blowout (33-14, .702), 1R (24-22, .522)

PHI Blowout (21-14, .600), 1R (27-23, .540)

MIL Blowout (25-22, .532), 1R (28-17, .622)

LAD Blowout (29-26, .527), 1R (19-24, .442)

2007

BOS Blowout (36-17, .679), 1R (22-28, .440)

NYY Blowout (46-19, .708), 1R (18-21, .462)

LAA Blowout (25-19, .568), 1R (25-19, .568)

CLE Blowout (26-15, .634), 1R (29-24, .547)

PHI Blowout (27-20, .574), 1R (14-23, .378)

COL Blowout (29-18, .617), 1R (19-19, .500)

ARI Blowout (20-26, .435), 1R (32-20, .615)

CHC Blowout (27-17, .614), 1R (23-22, .511)

2006

NYY Blowout (38-21, .644), 1R (24-22, .522)

OAK Blowout (21-22, .488), 1R (32-22, .593)

DET Blowout (30-18, .625), 1R (24-20, .545)

MIN Blowout (34-23, .596), 1R (20-11, .645)

NYM Blowout (34-17, .667), 1R (31-16, .660)

LAD Blowout (30-23, .566), 1R (20-20, .500)

SDP Blowout (23-16, .590), 1R (30-22, .577)

STL Blowout (30-23, .566), 1R (22-27, .449)

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Cumulative Blowout ( 694-469, .597), 1R (587-501, .540)

Obviously a win is a win and every single one of them helps no matter the margin of victory, but if you're looking for a style of win to hang your hat on moving forward, look in the blowout column.