What's Behind the Rays' Rise? Old-Fashioned Starting Pitching, of Course

“Who knows where it goes from here?” Rays general manager Erik Neander said last August when asked about the future of the opener, the pitching strategy that helped the upstart Rays win 90 games and challenge for a postseason spot in a year when they were widely predicted to finish below .500. The opener—more or less a bullpen day in practice, but as a regular part of the rotation—was born out of desperation and necessity. But given how well it worked, it was easy to imagine Tampa Bay not changing a thing in 2019 and rolling once again with relievers as starters.

Then again, when discussing what could change the plan going forward, Neander suggested one possible caveat. “If we have five…