Okay, all you people who are sick and tired of all the same teams getting into the playoffs every year; all you Red Sox and Yankees haters, who wait with bated breath for someone else to win the American League East - It's been a while, hasn't it? You have to go back eleven years to find a season in which one or the other of those two teams didn't win the division.
Welcome to the New World Order, MLB-Style. It's July 21, and the Tampa Bay Rays are leading the AL East, with the third-best record in the big leagues. I know it's going to be tough finding something else to whine about than "The rich always get richer," but guess what? The team that has finished in last place for nine of the ten seasons they've been in existence; the team that has never won more than seventy games in a season - that would be the Rays - they are for real.
The Rays are winning with pitching and defense and exciting young talent, and they're not going away. The only question mark, really, besides depth, is whether their pitching, so much of which is very young, can take the pressure of a September pennant race.
And, really, whether Tampa Bay makes the playoffs in the tough AL East isn't even the point. They could go 14-51 the rest of the way, and it would still qualify as the best season in franchise history. Of course, they're not going to do that, but even if they play .500 baseball from now until the end of the year, the Rays would finish with around 90 wins.
Worst to first? Who knows, but as a baseball fan, it's fun to see what's going on down in Tampa. And I'm a Red Sox fan.
__________
If you love fiction and have a few spare minutes, check out my website, www.allanleverone.com.
Nothing for four months and now two in two days. It took me a month of serious withdrawal symptoms to get over your leaving last time. How long are you stayin' this time?
I just got in from tonight's Rays game. Kazmir looks like he has it back together. I remember last season when Cuzzifer wrote a post praising the Brewers move in getting rid of Grant Balfour. This season Balfour looks unhittable; I wonder what Cuzz thinks now.
Your web site is cool. Good luck getting your big ones published.
Hi Bosox, that is par for the course with me and my addictive personality. I'll probably go wild with posts now for a while, assuming I have time, and then go underground again at some point. Weird, I know, but that's me....
Hey there Husker, thanks for stopping by. You're right about the attendance; it's a real problem for Tampa Bay. It was understandable when they sucked, but the fact that they are playing outstanding baseball and still people aren't going spells trouble if it doesn't change - soon we'll be hearing about relocation....
Hey everyone, I know it must seem like I've dropped off the face of the earth, but it's nothing like that.
I've been busy writing - two full-length novels so far, plus over a dozen short stories - and working hard to try to get an agent. If you are curious and have a few minutes, check out my website, www.allanleve rone.com.
If you're a literary agent or if you know one, by all means contact me! In the meantime, I'll be here when I can - love this forum - and as always, thank you for checking out my blog, especially considering how many great ones you could be reading instead....
