The Tampa Bay Rays are still in the American League Wild Card race. That's the positive news for Rays fans, but the bad news is that the Rays don't exactly resemble a playoff team right now.

Right now, Tampa has edged out their AL East rival Baltimore, who have declined into a shockingly low 0.9 percent chance at making the playoffs. Tampa stands at 11.7 percent, which isn’t great, but with a few games left in the season, Tampa can put together a run to make it into the postseason.

Of course, the Orioles have helped the Rays stay in the race. Baltimore put together a nice little losing streak, which has allowed Tampa – who have an even .500 record in their past 10 games – to keep themselves in contention.

However, the Rays' problems haven't gone away. The franchise remains last in the league in runs scored, which isn't exactly a recipe for success when it comes to trying to achieve postseason success. If Tampa does somehow make the playoffs, how could they be taken seriously when they struggle so much to score runs? Not to mention that the bullpen has also seen its fair share of difficulties.

A team with those two glaring weaknesses rarely finds itself in the playoff picture. But here the Rays sit, only a small winning streak away from possibly moving to the top of the Wild Card standings. It's simply madness.

Luckily, it doesn't have to be pretty all the time. The Rays have benefited from those around them encountering similar struggles at this point in the season. The Orioles and the Tigers, for instance, have been deeply underwhelming over the past few weeks, so while the Rays have been bad, it hasn't hurt their place in the race all that much.

Tampa's currently in the middle of a crucial series against Baltimore after decent, but not great, outings against Minnesota and Kansas City on the schedule. Nine straight games on the road starting August 31 will put this Rays team to the test, especially considering that the Orioles, Yankees, and Tigers will play host in those games.

If the Rays can't find a way to get the bats going down the stretch run, it would be silly to believe that they could find a path to the postseason. The pitching can only do so much, and again, the bullpen hasn't been reliable enough to follow up good outings by the starting rotation.

There's a reason why it's called the Wild Card. When everything is at stake, teams will sometimes do things that we never expected them to do.

For the Rays, they'll need to be something that they haven't been all season: Consistent. Considering what we've seen from this Tampa team this year, that may be asking too much.

But hey, Tampa still has a chance. And at this point, that at least gives them a shot as we near the most crucial part of the season.