Say this for the fans of the Tampa Bay Lightning. They sure like to dance. And why not? You could make an argument that they get more for their money than any group of fans in Tampa Bay. Oh, you can talk about ticket prices if you want. But like most teams, those in Tampa Bay have levels of tickets. So let’s take the prices of going to a game out of it. Who offers the best deal in sports…
The wins may have slightly increased this year for the Tampa Bay Rays, but the attendance figures were one of the worst in a long time. The Rays had their lowest figures in 10 years this year, averaging only 15,403 fans, once again the worst in major league baseball. A roster filled with new faces, a new manager and a new general manager did not help. A fourth-place finish sealed the deal. The Rays drew 1,247,668 fans this year, a…
Say this about the off-season. Evidently, the Tampa Bay Rays couldn’t wait to get started on it. The Rays’ off-season officially began Tuesday when general manager Matt Silverman and manager Kevin Cash sat in front of a room and answered questions about a season that died too soon and one that has yet to arrive. Both men sounded confident about the season to come despite their fourth-place finish. โWe have our group in place,” Silverman said of a team that…
The Tampa Bay Rays closed out the 2015 season Sunday in a manner that accurately reflects very little that went on in the first 161 games of the year, The Rays blasted the Toronto Blue Jays, 12-3, to go home smiling. For the Rays, it ended the season in fourth place at 80-82. For the Blue Jays, who entered with an outside chance of finishing the season with the best record in the American League, it was a disappointing day.…
It is now official. The 2015 Tampa Bay Rays will forever be known as losers. The Rays dropped their 82nd game of the year Friday, falling 8-4 to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays had 17 hits on the night. Rays had taken a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning on a three-run home run by Mikie Mahtook, his eighth of the year. But the Blue Jays stormed back with seven runs over their next two at bats to…
Trophies. We ought to be talking about trophies. You know, the way we did in the early 2000s. The Bucs won a Super Bowl. The Lightning won a Stanley Cup a year and half later. The Rays went to a World Series two years after that. Players. We ought to be talking about players. There was a time when the population included Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp and Marty St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier and David Price and James Shields.…
Now that they have run out of season, the Tampa Bay Rays have never looked better. The Rays completed a sweep of three or more games for the first time since July and and won their first series since mid-August with a 4-1 victory over the Florida Marlins. Perhaps it is because the pressure of the wild-card chase is over, but the Rays have rarely looked better. They had pitching. Jake Odorizzi went seven innings and gave up only four…
