Reason for optimism: The Rays are one player away from being a serious contender to win the AL East.
Reason for pessimism: Sadly for Tampa's fan base, that player is Joey Votto.
Last year, the Rays were my favorite "over" call in all of baseball. While our previews were published with the market at 78.5 wins, at points during spring training it was as high as 79.5 -- which meant the Rays had to win game 162 to earn all of the "over" backers winning tickets to cash. So, was last year's over call lucky in retrospect?