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Cash: 'It pisses me off' when asked how Rays keep winning

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Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash is getting tired of being asked how his team continues to make the postseason even though it doesn't employ a superstar or have a high payroll.

"The question gets old, because the results have been there," Cash said, according to the Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin. "It pisses me off when people ask that."

The Rays finished the regular season with the best record in the American League (100-62), which followed a 2020 World Series appearance.

The club doesn't employ any of the league's biggest superstars but uses a deeply diverse and flexible lineup to produce exceptional results.

After Tampa Bay traded key pitcher Blake Snell and declined a contract option on veteran hurler Charlie Morton in the offseason, it looked like ace Tyler Glasnow and the team's run-prevention model would be heavily relied upon. Instead, Glasnow has missed all but 14 starts after undergoing Tommy John surgery and the Rays have turned into more of a run-scoring team than the season prior.

How has Cash and his club overcome losing three important pieces and a multitude of injuries this season?

"It's all about the players," he said. "And I would pound the table on that."

While many around baseball believe the Rays play above their talent level because the organization is smarter than everyone else, Tampa Bay's GM Erik Neander does not agree.

"I don't care for that perception," Neander said.

"There's a mentality to how we operate. It's not comfortable to be wrong - but there's a willingness to be wrong, and there's a willingness to be OK with that and to be secure enough to be OK with that. I'll take the mentality of it and we can own that … But there's a really strong emphasis on humility."

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