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Rays Won Pennant By Never Giving Up

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2008

Yes, it was just a baseball game. But when the Tampa Bay Rays threw themselves into a pile after winning the American League pennant late Sunday, people throughout the region experienced a feeling of unmitigated joy.

During a time of foreclosures, lay-offs, stock collapses and shrinking 401(k)s, the improbable Rays continue to give us something to feel good about.

A pennant. For Tampa Bay. By beating the World Champion Boston Red Sox.

Never could we have imagined at season's start that this incredible team, which had never had a winning season in its 10-year history, would win the AL pennant.

After all, they are one of the youngest and lowest paid teams in Major League Baseball. They play in baseball's toughest division, the American League East, against the powerhouse Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. They were the worst team in baseball just last year.

But the tide began to turn in 2005 with the arrival of new, community-minded owners. They, in turn, hired a confidence-building manager, added new starting pitchers, built bench strength in the bullpen and suddenly, the team's bats began to crackle.

The 2008 Rays are famous for never giving up. Even when the team was down in late innings, fans knew they couldn't turn off the television or, more times than not, they'd miss a fantastic finish.

The Rays continued to win despite losing several key players to injuries for prolonged periods. One star - Rocco Baldelli - struggled to overcome a mysterious, debilitating disease. But the Rays stuck with him, just as owner Stuart Sternberg and his staff stuck with their plan to build the team with promising young athletes, not high-priced superstars.

So when Baldelli singled in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning, it could be seen as validation not just of the Rays' faith in Baldelli, but in the Rays' team-building philosophy as well.

Under the calm, patient encouragement of manager Joe Maddon, the players never stayed discouraged - not by a slow start, by a mid-season losing streak, not even by a devastating loss to the Red Sox on Thursday, when they blew a seven-run lead.

After the Red Sox won again Saturday, more than a few Rays fans were worried. But again, this unflappable young team never gave up. They plugged away, took the lead and refused to break, even when the Sox loaded the bases late in the game.

Rays starter Matt Garza was a marvel. So was the Rays' bullpen.

Sternberg, Maddon, team President Matt Silverman, Vice President Andrew Friedman, and every coach, player and staff member, deserve credit for this championship run.

Besides giving us something to cheer about, they demonstrated how - with patience, commitment and the ability to endure tough times while working to build better ones - one can overcome daunting odds.

The World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies is next. The odds are again formidable. But members of this year's Tampa Bay Rays aren't about to give up now.

Go Rays.

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