Rays Bullpen Blues: Early Season Struggles

0:00It's March 29th, MLB news today starts now, AI powered and game ready. I'm Cory with the story. Tampa Bay Rays are sitting at 0-1-2 after dropping their first two games to the rebuilding St. Louis Cardinals. In both matchups, the Rays grabbed late leads, but watched their bullpen cough them up, turning sure wins into tough losses right out the gate. They opened against a young cardinal squad that shipped out most of its vets to rebuild, figuring it'd be an easy start. The St. Louis showed grit, rallying back each time for come from behind victories that have Tampa Bay's contenders dreams on shaky ground early. Fans and analysts are pointing fingers straight at the bullpen, which looks solid on paper even after letting Pete Fairbanks walk in the offseason. Opening day was a meltdown, and now this trend has everyone worried about depth issues, especially with Edwin Ucetta, sidelined on the injured list. Better days games saw the Rays claw back from a no-hit threat to tie at 4-4, then snag

1:00a one-run lead in the top of the 10th on a Yandhi Diaz. Single that score had been Williamson. New closer Griffin Jacks took the mound, but walked the lead off guy, gave up a sack bun, and top prospect JJ Weatherhold delivered the walkoff hit. It's only two games in, so plenty of season left to fix this bullpen blues, but the Rays better lock it down quick if they want to stay in the hunt.