The Rays have been surprising the AL all year long with their outstanding play and they did the same thing against the best team in baseball and the best team in NL. With a sweep of the Cubs with Thursday's 8-3 victory the Rays have really solidify themselves as a team that others should be afraid of.
With the young pitching they have, the Rays will have to hope that they hold up in the long season and will deliver as strong performances as they have early on. James Shield who gave the Rays a strong effort last night gave up 3 runs in 6 in a third innings after shutting out the Cubbies for the first 6 innings but tiring in the 7th. He did strike out nine batters and displayed a fantastic changeup that the rest of the AL have learned to be afraid of with two strikes on them.
The Cubs are 2-4 in Interleague play this year playing the AL East teams and now they will focus their attention their cross-town rival the Chicago White Sox. The Chi-Sox are in first place in the AL Central and swept away the Cubs divisional rival the Pirates with no trouble at all.
The Cubs can play as good as they want and dominate the NL in games but if they can't prove to beat the AL teams in Interleague play, it could be a preview of what to look for if they do reach the World Series. The Rays on the other hand are just beating everybody.
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