ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A month ago, baseball rumor mongers were sizing up Chris Archer for a new uniform. His name was mentioned in chatter about the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies and their playoff hopes.
Archer is going nowhere, of course, except up the Tampa Rays career lists and perhaps the postseason.
It has always been easy to overlook the Rays because they're in the American League East with baseball blue-bloods like the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
But the Rays have as strong a claim on playoff hopes as anyone outside of the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers.