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The Rays return stateside after a whirlwind trip to Cuba, and you can read all about the 4-1 win from our own reactions and recaps from the game, as well as a deep reflection on the significance of yesterday's exhibition.
I'm not going to go another tangent about how important the game was (very important) or how amazing the Rays represented MLB (very amazing). With the Rays returning back to the great state of Florida, they'll take on the Twins in Fort Myers with the game being televised on MLB Network, and MLB.TV.
Get pumped for that with another look at the homerun clobbered by James Loney in yesterday's win.
Although it's unknown how many of the players we'll see on TV today.
The Rays had a great trip to Cuba, but not a great trip back: delayed seven hours at the airport.
Great trip to Cuba. But....we haven't left yet. We've been stuck on the runway for the past 6 hours. Safe to say we are a bit delusional
— Chris Archer (@ChrisArcher22) March 23, 2016
They landed stateside at 5 AM this morning.
Back in the US, safely.
— Chris Archer (@ChrisArcher22) March 23, 2016
Links!
- Check out the Tampa Bay Times Will Vragovic's photo album of the Rays historic trip to Havana.
- Also from the Tampa Bay Times, Marc Topkin shares his take on the Rays trip to Cuba, including high praise from President Obama for Chris Archer.
- Chris Archer spoke before the game on Sports Center about laying a foundation and building relations as a defacto ambassador from major league baseball.
- The Hardball Times have Doppelgangers for every team in baseball, and comp the Rays with... the 1988 White Sox?
- At Beyond the Boxscore, Austin Yamada has a guide to breakdown the most watchable starting rotations in the AL East.
-Fangraphs continues their 2016 positional power rankings, this time with 2B where the Rays come in 12th. A choice quote about the starting 2B Logan Forsythe:
As a slight-pull hitter who hits the ball in the air with some regularity, Forsythe probably isn’t a .320 BABIP guy going forward, and something closer to league average offense is probably more realistic, but there’s value in a guy who can play second base and be a league average hitter.
- Also at Fangraphs, Jeff Sullivan breaks down why there is no easy way to counter-attack the defensive shift.
- And at B-Pro: Russell A. Carlton on baseball culture