MLB Insider delivers shocking take regarding the first and last place teams in AL East: "The Yankees are a better team than the Rays"

The New York Yankees are in last place in the AL East and eight games back of the Tampa Bay Rays. They also just lost two out of three in Tampa Bay. By all indicators, Tampa Bay is better than the Yankees right now.

However, one MLB analyst watched the Yankees series loss and felt that the opposite was true.

Sal Licata, a WFAN broadcaster, believes that the series proved that the Yankees are better despite the losses.

He said via Audacy:

“The Yankees, who have been hit much harder by injury, still win games, and they’re in a much tougher division [than the Mets]. The Yankees are still able to maintain…and you just know, when the Yankees start to get healthy, they’re gonna take off."

He continued, adding that he felt like the Yankees were better in spite of two close losses:

“Even though it was a crushing defeat on Sunday, and I was stunned Gerrit Cole blew that lead…I came away thinking the Yankees are a better team than the Rays. The Rays can get out to that historic start, but the Yankees are the better team.”

Licata believes now is the time to place bets on the Yankees winning it all:

“Now’s the time, because it’s probably not gonna get any worse for the Yankees. This will probably be the low water mark the rest of the way. Cashman is right. Don’t be counting them out.”

This is certainly a bold take given an eight-game distance between the two and the head-to-head record thus far, but Licata does make some valid points about the injuries faced by both teams thus far.

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Can the Yankees really be better than the Rays?

The Tampa Bay Rays are off to a historic start this season and the New York Yankees have stumbled out of the gate. Both of those statements are true, but is this indicative of the team's quality?

Which team is better?

Not necessarily. Tampa Bay probably is not a historically good team. The Yankees also aren't a last-place team. The Yankees have suffered injuries to Harrison Bader, Aaron Judge, Carlos Rodon, Giancarlo Stanton, Jonathan Loaisiga, Josh Donaldson, Luis Severino and others.

They have the most money on the Injured List of any team by far. At full strength, the battle between Tampa Bay and the Yankees is a lot closer, even if their first series was already pretty close.