It’s hardly worth mentioning now, but remember when the anticipation was off the charts for the ultimate old-school, apocalyptic World Series showdown between the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox?
We can’t either. There is something intoxicating happening in Tampa, where the Rays will host the Philadelphia Phillies tomorrow night in Game 1 of the latest Fall Classic. A baseball spirit long supposed to be dead has been rekindled, one thriving on the belief that any team — even Major League Baseball’s worst last year, one with a paltry $44 million payroll — can turn things around in one season to become the most improbable champion in the history of the sport.
“This is the best story in baseball in years. The Rays are a very talented team, and the storylines are great,” FOX broadcaster Joe Buck told The Examiner’s Jim Williams.
Williams himself holds this year’s series dear — he’s been a season-ticket holder at the Trop since the Devil Rays stumbled their way onto the scene in 1998 — but Sarasota resident Tim McCarver also told Williams the South Florida Gulf Coast is changing: “I will tell you that the area has become Rays country.”
Tampa was 63-99 that first season, still 66-96 in 2007, and yet they won 97 times this year. They then beat the White Sox in the divisional series, and that was something. But no one foresaw a seven-game league championship series against the Red Sox closed with four outs from 23-year-old rookie pitcher David Price in just his eighth big-league appearance.
Yeah, that David Price. The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2007 who began the season with Class A Vero Beach and took just 19 appearances (12-1 record, 109 strikeouts, 2.30 ERA) to reach the majors in mid-September.
“You may see [Rays manager] Joe Maddon making David Price the Tug McGraw of 2008 World Series,” said McCarver, anticipating the use of Price as a closer against the Phillies.
But Price, who may very well be the Tampa’s No. 1 starter as soon as next season and their best pitcher for years to come, also serves as a reminder that the Rays are doing something more than haunting the sports world this October.
“They deserve to be in the World Series,” said Buck. “and they will be around for a long time.”
