Rays' biggest flaw so far? Here's a case for the defense

Hitting and run production are going to vacillate during a season, and the Rays would like to believe they're on an upswing. “Run prevention and playing good defense is, I think, pretty essential to us having success,” manager Kevin Cash said. Under Monday's update of Sports Info Solutions' Defensive Runs Saved metric, the Rays at minus-19 rank 27th among the 30 major-league teams. For context, in the era since they changed from the Devil Rays before the 2008 season (which includes nine playoff appearances), the Rays have finished lower than 12th only twice.