No team has had a better start to the 2023 Major League Baseball season than the Tampa Bay Rays.
In fact, it has been decades since any team started a season this well.
The Rays continued their historic start on Saturday afternoon with a dominant 11-0 win over the Oakland A’s to improve to 8-0 and remain the only unbeaten team in baseball.
Not only are they still unbeaten through eight games, but they have won every game so far by at least four runs.
That makes them the first team since the 1939 Yankees to win at least eight consecutive games by four runs or more.
It has been a collective team effort so far as they have blended dominant offense with a pitching staff that has completely shut down opposing bats.
The Rays have already scored 64 runs for the season, scored at least four runs in every single game and scored at least five runs in all but one game. They have also allowed just 18 runs and have yet to get a single start from one of their most talented pitchers, Tyler Glasnow, who is scheduled to return at some point soon as he recovers from a strained oblique.
All of that gives them a run differential of plus-46 through eight games, which is 20 runs better than any other team in baseball through Saturday afternoon. The Rays have made the playoffs four years in a row and are a consistent contender despite having one of the league’s lowest payrolls every year.
Through the first week of the season, this team seems like it is on track to continue that run of contention. It might be their best team yet.
