Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida, that competes in Major League Baseball's American League East division. Established in 1998 as the Devil Rays, the franchise struggled initially, relying on aging veterans without achieving significant success. A pivotal change occurred in 2008 when the team rebranded as the Tampa Bay Rays and unexpectedly reached the World Series, marking the start of a competitive era. Over the following years, the Rays became known for their innovative strategies, particularly in developing young talent and utilizing unique pitching approaches, such as the "opener" strategy.
Playing their home games at Tropicana Field, the only non-retractable domed stadium in MLB, the Rays have consistently demonstrated resilience despite operating within the constraints of a small-market environment. Notable players from the franchise's history include Wade Boggs and Evan Longoria, both of whom left a lasting impact on the team. The Rays have successfully made multiple playoff appearances, including a World Series run in 2020, showcasing their ability to compete against larger-market teams like the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
Tampa Bay Rays
Team information
- Inaugural season: 1998
- Home ballpark: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
- Owner: Stuart Sternberg
- Team colors: Navy blue, light blue, yellow, and white
Overview
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team playing in the American League (AL) East division. The Rays are one of the newest franchises in MLB, joining the league in 1998 as the Devil Rays. Aware of the reality that expansion franchises often struggle in their first few seasons, Tampa Bay built its initial rosters with big-name veterans to attract fan interest. However, these former stars were on the downside of their careers, and the team’s on-field product suffered as a result. Then, in 2008—after dropping the “Devil” from its name—the franchise made a surprising run to the World Series led by a quirky manager and a core of young players. Although the Rays fell short in the series, the 2008 season marked a turnaround for the franchise. For the next decade and a half, Tampa Bay was one of the best teams in the American League, making another World Series in 2020 and reaching the playoffs eight times. The Rays accomplished this by adopting several innovative strategies to help them overcome the financial limitations of a small-market payroll.
History
By the mid-1990s, Florida’s Tampa/St. Petersburg area had played the role of bridesmaid several times in its attempt to gain an MLB franchise. The region was often used as leverage by other teams in their bids to get new stadiums. In 1988, the Chicago White Sox were considering moving to Tampa before Illinois officials secured the money for a new ballpark; in 1992, the San Francisco Giants actually had a deal in place to move to Tampa, but the National League (NL) blocked the move and the Giants stayed put. The region also lost out on MLB’s planned 1993 expansion when Miami and Denver were awarded two new franchises, the Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies.
In 1995, MLB finally awarded a franchise to the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, approving a bid by Vince Naimoli, the investor who had led the attempt to bring the Giants to Tampa. The team was to take the field in 1998 and play its games in a domed stadium in St. Petersburg. The stadium, known today as Tropicana Field, had been built in 1990 as an incentive to attract a MLB team. Team officials originally wanted to adopt the name Sting Rays, but that name was trademarked by a baseball team from Hawaii, so they settled on Devil Rays, a reference to a type of fish found in local waters.
For their inaugural roster, the Devil Rays signed third baseman Wade Boggs, who had won five batting titles with the Red Sox in the 1980s, and outfielder Fred McGriff, a four-time All-Star with the Blue Jays, Padres, and Braves. They also signed starting pitcher Wilson Alvarez and reliever Roberto Hernandez, both former All-Stars with the Chicago White Sox. The idea was to put a veteran lineup of former stars on the field while franchise’s young players developed in the minor leagues. The strategy failed as the Devil Rays foundered in their first season, losing an AL-worst ninety-nine games. In 1999, Tampa Bay added slugger Jose Canseco—the 1988 AL Most Valuable Player (MVP)—in an attempt to boost the team’s star power. Canseco did make the All-Star team that season and Boggs reached his milestone 3,000th hit in August, but the Devil Rays once again finished at the bottom of the AL East standings.
By the mid-2000s, the veteran stars had moved on and the team’s young talent had begun to arrive in the majors, but the results on the field were the same. Tampa Bay had a losing record in each of its first ten seasons in the league, culminating with a 106-loss season in 2002. In 2006, the Devil Rays hired former Angels bench coach Joe Maddon as manager. Maddon had an unorthodox managerial style that focused on team building to bring out the best results in his players. Among his innovations were themed road trips in which players dressed up according to a certain theme as they boarded the plane to travel. However, Maddon’s changes seemed to have no effect in his first two years on the job, as the Devil Rays lost 101 and 96 games in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
Prior to the 2008 season, management decided to rebrand the team as the Tampa Bay Rays, partly because the team often received criticism from Christian groups about the name Devil. The new name was also meant to invoke the image of the sun’s rays as a reference to Florida’s reputation as the Sunshine State. As the team’s young core began to come together, Tampa Bay’s pitching staff also took a step forward, and the Rays surprised just about everybody by winning ninety-seven games and capturing an AL East title. In their first trip to the postseason, the Rays made it all the way to the World Series where they fell in five games to the Philadelphia Phillies. For engineering the turnaround, Maddon was named AL Manager of the Year. He would win the award again in 2011.
After a down year in 2009, Tampa Bay won another AL East title in 2010 and made the playoffs as a wild card team in 2011 and 2013. On all three occasions, the Rays were eliminated early in the playoffs. Tampa Bay’s success was all the more notable because the team plays in one of baseball’s smallest markets, making it difficult to sign free agents and keep their star players under contract. To make matters worse, the Rays share the AL East with the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, the two largest markets in baseball.
After a subpar 2014, Maddon left the Rays to manage the Chicago Cubs and was replaced with Kevin Cash. After three losing seasons, Tampa Bay hit upon an unusual pitching strategy that helped turn the team’s fortunes around. After its star pitcher, Blake Snell, was injured and two other starting pitchers were traded, the Rays began employing a strategy of having a series of relievers pitch at the start of each game. The strategy, known as the “opener,” allows each reliever to throw a few innings before being replaced by a new pitcher. In theory, this is supposed to keep the opposing team off balance by not allowing it to see the same pitcher over multiple at bats. The strategy worked as Tampa Bay finished 2018 with 90 wins. Employing the technique for the entire 2019 season, the Rays won 96 games and made the playoffs as a wild card team.
In 2020, the Rays won 40 games in a 60-game regular season, shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the playoffs, Tampa Bay advanced to the World Series, where they eventually fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games. The Rays won the American League East title in 2021 with a franchise-record 100 wins. They followed that up with 86 wins in 2022 and 99 in 2023. However, each time, Tampa Bay was bounced from the playoffs in the early rounds.
Notable players
As of 2020, Wade Boggs is the only former Tampa Bay player to have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Boggs played sixteen of his eighteen years in the majors with the Red Sox and Yankees, spending just 1998 and 1999 with the Devil Rays. Fred McGriff played in Tampa Bay from 1998 to 2001 and again in 2004. McGriff made the All-Star team as a Devil Ray in 2000. He finished his nineteen-year career with 493 home runs.
Outfielder Carl Crawford was one of the first young Tampa Bay stars to make it to the major leagues. He began his career with the Devil Rays in 2002 and played with the team until 2010. A four-time All-Star, Crawford holds the franchise record for hits with 1,480 and steals with 409. The speedy Crawford led the AL in steals four times. Third baseman Evan Longoria made his debut with the Rays in 2008 and played in Tampa until 2017. Longoria won the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2008, won three Gold Glove awards for defensive excellence, and made three All-Star teams. He is the franchise leader in home runs with 261, runs scored with 780, and runs batted in (RBIs) with 892. Another member of the 2008 World Series team, pitcher James Shields, is the Rays’ all-time leader in wins with 87 and strikeouts with 1,250. Shields was with the team from 2006 to 2012.
Pitcher David Price was the first overall selection of Tampa Bay in the 2007 MLB draft. Price made three All-Star teams with the Rays from 2008 to 2014 and won the 2012 AL Cy Young Award. He is second on the franchise list in wins with 82 and third in strikeouts with 1,065. Pitcher Chris Archer spent 2012 to 2018 with the Rays, making two All-Star teams and striking out 1,146 batters—second most in team history. Blake Snell began his career with the Rays in 2016 and blossomed in 2018 by winning 21 games and posting an AL-best 1.89 earned run average (ERA). Snell made the All-Star team that season and won the AL Cy Young Award.
Bibliography
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