Joe Maddon and the Tampa Bay Rays are often credited with starting the recent trend in defensive shifts and now the Rays appear to be getting back to what made them great defensively.
The Rays led all MLB teams with 1,462 defensive shifts on balls in play, according to an AP story. That is 46 more than the team with the second-most, the Houston Astros (1,416), and 931 more than the other 28 teams averaged (531).
The Rays had gotten away from the defensive shift a little bit in 2014, using the strategy just 1,119 times.