Teams make a lot of outs in baseball. The winning team in a game will make at least 24 outs. Even the best hitters in baseball make an out seven out of ten times they are at the plate. There are lots of ways to make an out but the least productive is the strikeout. Rarely is the ball in play after a strikeout and so a batter cannot get on base or advance a runner. It is a simply an unproductive out, and the Tampa Bay Rays have more than their share.
It’s fair to say that a major reason for the Rays rocky start is strikeouts.