Tampa Bay Rays One Win Away
Young Upstarts Pushing the defending World Champions to the brink
Oct 15, 2008
They have been baseball's cinderella story all season long, but there has always been that element of doubt. Were they for real? Sure, the baseball world had seen a worst-to-first before. Most folks will cite the 1991 Atlanta Braves, who finished the 1990 season at 65-97 and then won the N.L. West with a 29-game improvement to 94-68.
But the Tampa Bay Rays not only posted a more dramatic improvement -- 31 games, from 66-96 in 2007 to 97-65 in 2008 -- they did it in baseball's toughest division, the A.L. East, home to both the vaunted New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.
How tough? Since the American League went to the three-division format in 1995, the division has produced the A.L. wild card 10 times, the ALCS finalists 15 times, and the American League champion nine times, regardless of how the 2008 ALCS finishes.
But the last eight A.L. East representatives to go to the World Series have been either the New York Yankees (1996, 1998-2001, 2003) or the Boston Red Sox (2004, 2007) and neither had finished last the season before. Boston hasn't finished in last place since 1992 and New York hasn't been in the cellar since 1990.
Tampa Bay, on the other hand, was the 5th place team in nearly every year of its existence, managing just one 4th-place finish (2004) and losing 100 or more games three times. This is what makes this turnaround so dramatic. The Rays had more than just changed uniforms; they had become contenders, seemingly overnight.
But of course it wasn't.
For years, Tampa had had top draft picks and had drafted well, but while their minor-league teams would do well (e.g. 2006-2007 Southern League champs, the AA Montgomery Biscuits) the talent wouldn't come together at the major-league level... until this year.
But it 's a myth that the Rays have become so good so fast because of all the high draft picks. It's true that Evan Longoria (starting 3B), B.J. Upton (starting CF) and Rocco Baldelli (starting RF) were first-rounders, but their starting LF, Carl Crawford, was just a 2nd-round pick and their two homegrown starters were even lower: Andy Sonnanstine (13th) and James Shields (16th).
Nope, it was some shrewd trades over the past 15 months that have done the trick. Grant Balfour from the Milwaukee Brewers for Seth McClung and Dan Wheeler from the Houston Astros, both in late July 2007. Matt Garza and SS Jason Barrett from the Twins for OF Delmon Young in November 2007. Willie Aybar for Jeff Ridgway from Atlanta this past January. Gabe Gross from Milwaukee in April. Chad Bradford for the PTBNL from Baltimore in August.
Get the picture?
And naturally there were some smart free-agent signings, especially some supposedly second-tier veterans: Troy Percival last November, Cliff Floyd last December, Trever Miller and Eric Hinske in February.
Tomorrow night, Tampa Bay goes for the kill. Leading the ALCS three games to one, they'll be attempting to beat the one Sox starting pitcher to be remotely effective against them, Daisuke Matsuzaka, who won Game One 2-0.
But momentum is on the Rays side. Boston did rally from a 3-1 deficit last year. But unlike last year, the Indians did not demolish the Red Sox in Games 3 and 4 the way the Rays have, and Boston will have to do it this time on the road, in a place where they have struggled all season long.
