Apocalypse Now?

Start looking for locusts.

The Tampa Bay Rays (14-11) are in first place. Granted, they’re tied with Boston. And Baltimore — ! But all of this makes baseball’s most bizarre division thus far even more confounding. Boston, check. Baltimore? Tampa?

Next, he parts the Red Sea.

How did this happen? Well, the Rays have won six straight, are 8-2 in their last ten games, and just swept Boston. Yeah, the defending World Series champions.

Now, we get to the first entry in my rules of talking about baseball: Never, ever rule out the Cinderellas. You might remember how we were assured in 2006 that the universe would return to normal and the Tigers’ nice little run would end and they would fail once again to make the playoffs. Which, of course, happened was nonsense; Detroit went to the World Series that year.

This is the time of the year for the underdogs to ride a good month to the top of the standings. The White Sux are first in the AL Central, the Marlins stand atop the NL East and the rebuilding Cardinals are in the thick of the NL Central race.

But the Rays are perhaps the most surprising team in the league — the only real challenger being their division rivals, the Orioles. How have they done it?

This is where they get the “duh” award: Pitching. The Rays are second in the AL with a 3.63 ERA. They’ve given up the fewest hits in the league (198). They don’t walk a lot of guys (77). And Scott Kazmir has yet to pitch an inning.

The ace is James Shields, who’s 3-1 with a 2.54 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.

The only thing that stands out among the offensive statistics — and the ‘metricians will probably kill me for even bringing this up — is speed. The Rays are tied for second in triples and are tied for the league lead in stolen bases, though they have also been caught stealing more than any other team.

Can the Rays stick around? If they keep pitching like this, if Evan Longoria continues to develop, etc., etc. — it’s possible. They are not unlike the Tigers of 2006, a team that has stockpiled young players, held onto a smattering of veterans and waited for that breakthrough year.

That said, MLB.com’s expected win-loss record has the Rays at 12-13, which would put them at 2.0 games out. Coincidentally, the Florida Marlins (15-10) have the same X W-L. But let’s remember that the actual wins and losses are what counts at the end of the season.

Yeah, it probably won’t be this year for the Rays. But don’t rule them out.