With its 3-1 loss yesterday to the Yankees, Tampa Bay clinched the first overall pick in the 2008 draft.

The Devil Rays (65-94) are three games "behind" the Royals, the Pirates and the Orioles (all 68-91) with three games left in the season for each team. Although those teams could potentially all finish with the same record, the Devil Rays would still get the first overall pick due to the tiebreaker rules. The tiebreaker for the draft order is that the team with the worse record the previous year gets the higher pick, giving the Devil Rays a lock on the top pick in June. [...] Continue Reading »

While watching pennant races is fun, try watching the race to the bottom of the standings–and thus the race to the top of the 2008 draft. That race is getting almost as interesting as the one at the top of the National League Central. The Devil Rays have had the worst record in the majors for most of the year, especially since they lost 25 of 30 games sandwiched around the all-star break. However, the Rays have won 13 of their last 17 games to improve to 61-83. Not only are they within nine victories of their best wins total in franchise history, but they have found company at the bottom of the standings. [...] Continue Reading »