Not to take attention away from pressing matters like the collapse of the world economy and the end of life as we know it here on earth, but . . . even those of you who are, like me, casual Red Sox fans gotta love those Tampa Bay Rays, who may be on the verge of pulling off one of the remarkable worst-to-best turnarounds in sports history. For those of you not following the developments, the story, in brief, is this: Tampa Bay has had the sorriest franchise in baseball for a couple of decades — hardly any fans, an awful stadium, and a terrible team, year after year after year. With a roster of no-names (and a payroll of around $40 million — one of the lowest in Major League Baseball), they started out strong this year, but everyone — and I mean everyone — was just waiting for them to collapse into their usual mediocrity.
But this year, they didn't. They actually won the American League East division race, beating out the big boys from NY and Boston, and then they went on to clobber the White Sox in the division series, earning the right to meet Boston in the AL Championship series. In the first game, things seemed to have caught up with them; they (finally) had that deer-in-the-headlights look, and they were shut out, 2-0, at home. So once again, everyone figured this had to be it for them, the World Champs would mow them down, restore the Old Order, and we'd get back to baseball as usual.
But the Rays won Game 2 in a thriller (12 innings), and then went up to Boston where, in the last two games, they have murdered - humiliated, really - the Red Sox, winning by lopsided scores (9-1 and 13-4) before Boston fans who are getting quieter and quieter with each passing inning.
It's an amazing performance by a bunch of 24 year old kids taking on a very talented veteran team and, so far, kicking their butt. It's pretty hard to root against them. They seem to have come up with a new team-building strategy; in the spring, they announced that they had signed Evan Longoria, their young third baseman who had just a few months of major league experience, to a 6-year, $36 million dollar contract. It seemed insane, at the time -- you're giving $36 million to who??? Evan Longoria - who the hell is he??
But it turns out to have been a sublimely brilliant move. Longoria looks like a superstar in the making -- already, given his performance in the postseason (five home runs in 7 games!), he could probably command more than $6 million on the open market, and it is quite possible that in a couple of years he'll be a $15 million per year (or more) player. But they've locked him in. It was a good deal for Longoria, too -- he's got a whole bunch of money in the bank and lots, lots more coming, guaranteed. So everyone's happy, and the Rays could be a very good ballclub for a very long time.
Related Posts (on one page):
- An Amazing Red Sox Comeback:
- In Praise of the Rays:
I'm a big White Sox fan and I'm very impressed at the Rays and their style of baseball. Longoria was out for awhile this year and the Rays still played great.
I hate baseball in a dome, though I'm pulling for the Rays to take it all this year.
:-p
Mike Schmidt, evidently.
For example, see this article from Baseball Prospectus contributor Nate Silver, from February 2008. Their PECOTA system predicted a 22 win increase from 2007.
I love how Nate throws in the article that BP accurately predicted the White Sox tremendous drop last season, which according to more than a few baseball columnists was completely unexpected.
Well, at least they don't have a terrible team anymore. One out of three ain't bad.
Cubs, er the Phillies.until next year when the Cubs will FINALLY break through!!
HGB
The Cubs will never win the World Series. Because they will never win a pennant.
Never, never, never, never, never.
Please consider: The NY Highlanders officially took the name "Yankees" in 1913. The Cubs have not won a World Series in the entire existence of the "NY Yankees" franchise. Not one.
It will never happen.
It can never happen.
I hate everything.
oh, and the rays should be around for awhile too... note that they also had three pitchers amongst BA's top 20 prospects (although mcgee did get hurt this year)...
By this reasoning, the Tampa Bay Rays have finished first every year of their existence. It was the Devil Rays that did poorly. Perhaps the Cubs could change their name to "Satan's Bears" for a couple of years, then when they exorcised their name they could win the pennant, too.
Some kind of expected value expert will have to weigh in here, because (like David) I think a lot more teams may start to gamble large contracts on their untested, but highly regarded prospects. My somewhat obvious hunch is that they can afford the gamble much more easily than the untested prospect.
85 years versus one? That's not MY reasoning.
Props to their management for doing some excellent talent-building, then using that talent to build a team.
--JRM
The only thing worse (or to make it worse) is the bush league announcers the Rays have. Obnoxious, stupid, and borderline anti-Semitic (one of them heaps inordinate complaints about opposing teams Jewish players), they really do make it a better experience to turn off the volume and either find the Spanish radio broadcast or listen in silence.
St. Pete voted down a new stadium, so the Rays will be stuck in the juice dome, dank and dark, for quite some time.
I'm betting, though, that the team gets sold out from under Tampa as the fan base is actually quite poor. Average crowds run around 1/2-2/3 capacity.
And maybe it's just my attitude, but I get really pissed when tickets that normally sell for $50 are jacked to $250 when the Yankees or Sox come to town.
Go Phillies!
But the Red Sox really are the new Yankees, and I'm loving it! And just 3 short years ago I was ecstatic when the Red Sox took out the Yankees in that amazing comeback series ... funny, I thought I liked the Red Sox, but really I just hated the Yankees that much ...
Seriously, though. I lived in Tampa for several years while the Rays were one of the worst teams in baseball. Fantastic to finally see them make good.
I always find it funny when fans of the Northeast teams cast judgment against the Rays fans, or lack thereof. The Rays have been in existence for only 10 years,
The Red Sox and Yankees have both been around since 1901. That means that someone my age (29) could potentially be a 4th generation Yankees or Red Sox fan. Whereas someone my age (or younger) in Tampa/St Pete was probably raised to like another team, a team that most likely hails from the Northeast or Midwest.
It takes time to build a devoted fan base. I think followers of teams from older cities take this for granted.
Additionally, the first owner of the Rays was a first class jerk who continually stuck his thumb in the eye of the fan base. Until now, they've really had no reason to get excited. Throw in the stupid provincialism between Tampa and St. Pete and that explains some of the lack of attendance.
With that said, it will be a disgrace if attendance next year does not markedly improve.
It's time already. And this would be great for baseball.
Oh, that good management praise might have waited until tonight, when it will really be tested with the decision to start Kazmir.
Better team? Based on what?
Money spent?
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