Everything is clicking for the Rays after another series sweep

The Tampa Bay Rays have come out as one of the biggest surprise teams so far this season. They have gotten off to a red-hot start, which has the fanbase fired up. 

The Rays hold a 16-11 record going into Monday's matchups. That is the second-best record in the American League, but can they keep this up?

Offensively, the club is getting production from a number of guys. They hold a .258 batting average. which is the fifth-best across MLB, and the pitching staff is looking the part with Steven Matz, Drew Rasmussen, and Nick Martínez getting off to good starts and Bryan Baker emerging as the team's closer with six saves.

MORE: Rays urged to make huge Junior Caminero commitment by former MLB GM

Everything is clicking for the Rays after another series sweep

The Rays are coming off a week where they were tested, but bounced back. They had trouble getting much going against the Cincinnati Reds, losing the series 1-2, but responded with a series shutout over the Minnesota Twins over the weekend. 

Last week, the team was ranked No. 13, but this week, they have cracked the top 10, now being ranked at No. 7, per Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller. 

"Following their sweep of the fading fast Twins, the Rays enter Monday tied with [the Seattle Mariners] for the longest active winning streak at four games, allowing two or fewer runs in each of those wins."

They will have to keep this up in their series against the Cleveland Guardians this week, who have also gotten off to a solid start. Then, the Rays could capitalize on some series against struggling clubs like the San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays, and Boston Red Sox. 

If they can continue to stay hot and take advantage of a weaker schedule in May, the Rays could continue to trend up and continue to surprise many over the course of this season.

More MLB news:

• Pitching leads the way as the Rockies continue to climb in latest power rankings
• Royals starting to make up ground after strong offensive weekend
• Shaky pitching has the Angels nosediving in latest power rankings
• Phillies fans won't like seeing where their team sits in latest power rankings
• JoJo Romero is not the only Cardinals' reliever opposing batters should worry about