The Tampa Bay Rays have a chance to be Amazin'
Baseball's feel-good story
AL East leaders hold baseball's best record, could match Mets' feat
The Tampa Bay Rays have a chance to be Amazin'

By Berry Tramel

Published: July 10, 2008

Almost 40 years later, baseball has another Amazin' Mets.

The Tampa Bay Rays have baseball's best record, 55-34 going into Wednesday's games, and this is new air for the team formerly known as the Devil Rays.

In their 10 years of existence, the Rays have finished last nine times and never had a winning record. Their average season is 65-97, 34

games out of first place.

Sounds like the Mets before 1969. In their first seven years or existence, the Metropolitans finished last five times, never higher than ninth, and their average season was 56-105, 41 games back.

You know what happened next. With a bunch of young talent — every position starter and New York's top three pitchers were 26 or younger — the Mets won 100 games and the World Series.

Can Tampa Bay pull off the same turnaround? The Rays have no starting pitcher older than 26 and no position starter older than 30.

But the question is not how did the Rays finally reach this level. The question is, what took them so long?

The Mets were awful in the 1960s, but that was mostly the lot of expansion teams then.

Not now. Baseball's three other expansion teams from the 1990s have not struggled continuously. Arizona had a winning record and made the playoffs in its second season, then won the World Series in its fourth year. Florida had a winning record and won the World Series in its fifth year. Colorado had a winning record and reached the playoffs in its third year.

So the Rays' misery can't be laid off on expansion status. They've just stunk.

Compare that to the first expansion wave. The Mets, you know about. The Angels had a winning record in their second season but didn't make the playoffs until their 19th year. The Senators/Rangers' first winning season was in Year 9 and their first postseason appearance was in their 34th season. The Astros didn't finish above .500 until their 11th season and didn't make the playoffs until their 19th season.

The 1969 expansion wasn't much better. Kansas City got competitive quickly, with a winning record in its third season and a playoff berth in its eighth, but Montreal, San Diego and Milwaukee each waited 10 or 11 years for their first winning record, with playoff berths ranging from 13 to 16 years.

Baseball is different now. More playoff berths available, more roster movement that allows teams to get better much more quickly.

Tampa Bay finally has caught fire. It's about time.

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