ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—A five-game winning streak, 12-0-1 in series over the past six weeks and the best record in baseball.

All summer long, the first-place Tampa Bay Rays have been hearing how difficult it’ll be to win in September, so they can’t think of a better way to enter the final month of the regular season.

They’re certainly not showing any signs of cracking under the pressure of a pennant race.

“There’s always these arbitrary or fabricated moments that everybody always wants to put weight on,” manager Joe Maddon said, rejecting the notion that his y...

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