Posted by Brandon Isleib
By shutting out the Red Sox today, the Rays have moved into a three-way tie for first place in the AL East. Unsurprisingly but sadly, April 27 is a franchise record for latest date the team has been in first place, the previous record being April 16 in 2004. If they're first place past April, they will be the third expansion team to have taken exactly 11 seasons to accomplish that feat, joining the Astros and Mariners. The Rangers took 13 years and the Padres 16; every other expansion team has done it faster.
Brandon Isleib possesses more baseball-related spreadsheets than he does law firm clients, but he's been building up the former for a lot longer and has reason to believe he's better with them anyway. He can be reached via the electronic mails.
