A "Devil" of a World Series

So the Tampa Bay Rays my not be called the Devil Rays anymore, but they now should have a new name: American League champions. The Tampa Bay Rays won the American League pennant last night in their first ever American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox in 7 games. It was a great series against Boston. After taking a 3 games to 1 lead, the Red Sox climbed back to tie the series at 3 games apiece, with the final and deciding contest going to the wire last night and Tampa Bay winning it 3-1.

The Rays have gone from worst to AL champions in one season. Before this season, the team had never won more than 70 games in a season. That sounds like a lot, but when you consider that they play 162 games in a Major League season, 70 is still 11 games below .500. This is a team that was formed in 1998 and has had to wait for 11 seasons to even get to a .500 record.

I'm not sure what it is about teams that are located in Tampa. The Bucs went almost two full seasons, a record 26 games, before winning their first in the NFL contest. To this day they are the only team in NFL history that has never had a kick-off returned for a TD. This a team that started in 1976. At least 1835 kick return opportunities. Yet not one has ever been taken all the way for a TD.

The Rays have struggled as well to be relevant in Tampa. More often than not in those 11 seasons there were more empty seats than seats with bodies in them. It's no wonder really, who wants to go to a baseball game, typically the longest running game in American professional sports, just to see your team get beat...over and over again? On top of this they play in division full of history, a division in which the Yankees are king, the Red Sox are always looking to usurp, and the other two teams have had thier runs in history as well. In fact, only Tampa Bay is without a World Series title in this division.

And yet this year, here they are. They have knocked off the big guns, and are now on the edge of history. They don't have a huge payroll like the Yankees and Red Sox. They don't have the big time names like those teams. Instead they have youth and a belief in themselves, their teammates, their manager and their system. This has carried them through to this point. Now they only need 4 more wins to really make history and win the World Series. Peace and Love y'all.