Visual Baseball:  Rays and Yankees AfterGlow

As promised, here’s the first of some daily doses of AfterGlow. Let’s start by previewing two of the AL’s playoff contenders, the Yankees and Rays. Both teams find themselves in a very similar place but have gotten there in very different ways. The Rays have had a dramatic rise to prominence, with sweeping improvements in both runs scored and runs allowed. Over the last 5 years their offense has improved steadily, as had their pitching & defense (with the exception of a 2009 setback).