The Tampa Bay Rays Are Still Flourishing, And Still Invisible | Defector

Miami’s recent focus is framed as a departure from decades of largely inactive, low-impact baseball operations. Tampa Bay is presented as a contrasting model, nearing twenty years of mostly consistent success with only two World Series appearances. The Rays enter a Yankees weekend series with the best American League record, supported by 21 wins in 25 games and a four-game lead. Their performance is described as not a fluke, tied to a shift after 2008 away from trying to do everything. Continued success is attributed to innovations in roster building, pitching rotation, and game construction, plus an ongoing willingness to keep adjusting.

"ESPN will still on occasion tear itself away from the subjects and sports leagues with which it shares bed space, and so it was with Alden Gonzalez' 2,800-word free-weight on the newly innovative (wait for it, and don't spit out your coffee when you see it) Miami Marlins. Whether or not this story is a compelling argument for the resuscitation of this largely cursed and generally ignored franchise, it is at least an acknowledgement that most of what Miami has been doing for the previous three decades has amounted to buying 30 calendars and taking the rest of the year off."

"Meanwhile, a team that truly changed baseball to its great competitive benefit is closing in on twenty years of mostly consistent success with only two holes in their CV-a World Series, and anyone else giving a damn. Now there's something for the Marlins to reflect upon as they talk about re-imagining baseball, perhaps by doubling down on their stolen base fixation by hitting more inside-the-park home runs."

"As the day dawns the Rays are preparing for a weekend series with the New York Yankees; the Rays, not the Yankees, come into this series with the best record in the American League, thanks to a run of 21 wins in their last 25 games that staked them to a four-game lead on New York. It is not a fluke-the Rays have the third highest success rate in the sport since they stopped trying to do everything everyone else was doing in 2008."

"True, that was also the year they shortened their nickname from Devil Rays at the behest of some religio-whackjobs who thought the franchise was invoking Beelzebub rather than a charming bit of local aquatic fauna, but that's not how they turned things around, and it sure isn't how they've kept everything pointed in the right direction. That was done mostly through innovations in roster, rotation, and game construction that bother some folks even today, and through a dedication to keep messing"

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