Stable of Davids vs. Organizations of Goliaths
David has finally slayed their Goliath. Two more Goliaths to go.
It took a wild, crazy game, but it happened. The Rays vanquished the Yankees in postseason play.
The Tampa Bay Rays, with a lineup when combined together still makes less than Gerrit Cole, upset the Generation Z Murderer’s Row has made their way into the American League Championship Series for the first time since that magical run back in 2008. And yes, they hate the label of being the Cinderella Story since they felt like they were nonetheless strong enough to make an actual run towards the World Series. They were hailed as the favorites of the American League by some baseball writers and indeed they didn’t disappoint. But considering the circumstances, how can you not call the Rays anything other than a Cinderella, a David having to go up against a slew of Goliaths? How on earth could you really expect the smallball, low-budget team to survive a series against a team that has the biggest bats and the biggest fireball-throwing arms?
The Rays have everything going against them year after year: budget, a horrible stadium that can’t draw fans, a region of Florida that is about as torn in fandom than in Floridian politics, a diversifying region of millennials and Gen Zs that is growing but far away from the Trop, ownership that really doesn’t believe in Florida baseball (and for some odd reason doesn’t establish a connection with Central Florida’s young, Latino, and tourist-centric crowd), a commissioner that dog whistles his support for the team to move, and it bears repeating, the minuscule payroll. A normal organization would crumble under such dire circumstances. But thanks to a feisty and clever front office, the Rays turns fools’ gold into the brightest diamonds.
Their history nonetheless has been one with success combined with the intense limitations, just usually finding themselves cut short because of their division and because of their financial obstacles. Before this current run, their last four ALDS appearances were against financially stronger and more consistent teams that would eventually represent the American League in the World Series (Rangers twice, Red Sox in that magical 2013 run, the *Asstros last season). The achievement stands taller because very few of their players actually stick around—and because the game of baseball is a cruel, cruel game.
We’ve only seen one $100 million contract in Rays history, which was Evan Longoria (who got traded before the contract was up). Most of our lengthiest contracts involve young stars that the Rays are banking on to produce success before their value goes up and their eyes shift towards more (and deserving) money. Similar to the Miami Marlins, the Rays are exceptionally good at discovering talent, even if they never keep it. So it’s a revolving door of talent, which also adds to the difficulty of rooting for a team that never has the same team for many seasons in a row.
So when you are a Rays fan, you are rooting for the system that rebels against the typical organizational methods of obtaining success in baseball. You are rooting for small ball, small budget, creative solutions, and the yearly core of blue-collar workhorses that will battle for every out. With Kevin Cash emerging from the School of Joe Maddon to become his own tough-as-nails managerial personality, you now have a team willing to die on the mound for the team they play for---regardless of their lower payrolls.
The Bargain Bin Boys of 2020 are a collection of talents that were not appreciated elsewhere. The pitcher that opened on TWO days rest, Tyler Glasnow, was a pitcher being tossed around between rotation and bullpen while in Pittsburgh. The player that hit the game-winning home run was undrafted; literally over a thousand players were picked before Mike Brosseau. Side-Note: Man, if ONLY he was able to hit that go-ahead home run in Tropicana Field in front of a sellout crowd. Thanks a lot, coronavirus and Trump Administration. Let me add some more oomph to that, fuck you coronavirus and Trump Administration.
Their best batter so far this postseason? Randy Arozarena, a former Cardinals bench player traded without much thought to Tampa Bay. So after Kevin Cash referenced his bullpen a “Stable of Pitchers,” the personality of the 2020 Rays was embedded in stone: workhorses that will step up to deliver and will step up to defend their teammate. The face of the Rays arguably is Kevin Kiermaier, a player that would be constantly ridiculed in any other organization for his batting average, but remains a favorite because of his nearly-flawless and dominating defense in center field.
I will admit, its so difficult to be a fan of the Rays because we see so many great players, great talents, and wonderful personalities come and go because of the way baseball is structured and because of the fractured relationship between ownership and the fans as well as the cities within Tampa Bay. We saw one of the best managers of the 21st century leave after a frustrating trade deadline that doomed the team---then watched Joe Maddon eliminate the curse of the Chicago Cubs. We saw Andrew Friedman, who transformed the Rays from punchline to punch-out specialist, leave to go to Los Angeles and transform that organization into the West Coast Yankees. Coach-wise, we saw pitching coach legend Jim Hickey move to Chicago, and Blake Shelton become a manager for the Pirates (after Pittsburgh ownership saw how the previous group mishandled Gerrit Cole AND Tyler Glasnow).
During the post-Devil Rays years and during the peak/near-peak of these players we lost David Price, Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria, Wil Myers (basically a Longoria clone), Sam Fuld (not the best player, but a defensive powerhouse), Fernando Rodney (…well, when he wasn’t a daily heart attack), Ben Zobrist, Wade Davis, among many other fan favorites. Tommy Pham also gets a special shout-out for bringing added energy to our 2019 season, I will always wish him the best with the emerging San Diego Padres.
The Rays Republic dreams of a time when the payroll increases ever so slightly and allows for some of these excellent players today to remain with us. The Rays Republic fandom also wishes for that stadium that we’ve been begging for within the past decade, especially as Central Florida grows as a top-tier television and economic market in the country. But because of the Rays’ financial situation, because Major League Baseball lacks an actual salary cap (and salary base), and because of the uncertain future, Rays Republic consists of many diehard fans that also have to be dreamers that someday these Davids can obtain more resources to better battle the Titans of baseball. The Rays still aren’t fully respected in baseball, with Chapman’s 100 MPH fastball at the head of Brosseau earlier this season as evidence. We’re still seen as the low-budget team without fans and a modern-day baseball stadium.
After that epic Divisional Series win against the Yankees however, the conversations are going to increase. The promised land is within reach, and the last remaining obstacle before the World Series are those damn Houston Astros----who may or may not have cheated against the Rays the season before. We’ve vanquished the Evil Empire, and now its time to take out the Trashcans of baseball. And unlike all previous seasons, we’re the team with more supporters nationwide—mostly because of WHO we are facing. Regardless of the result, one can’t help but be extremely proud of an organization and a group of men that under questionable bosses and budgeting circumstances created a quality team with quality players and quality play. This was also accomplished without tossing extra money and without the help of buzzers and trash cans.
The Tampa Bay Rays have always been an overachieving organization, but now we’ve become a top-tier one as well. Rays Up, may the Stable of Pitchers stomp all over the cheating chumps from Houston.
Regardless of where we end up this season and where the organization ends up by the end of this decade, I’ll always treasure these years and these teams for being the anti-thesis for how to run a great baseball team, especially this 2020 squad, who under these bizarre circumstances became the Beasts of the East, and now are four games away from a date with the World Series, and sadly without the opportunity to play in front of the ecstatic and growing fanbase enjoying this new chapter in Rays history.
#RaysUp