Lessons Learned: Rays Can Look Back On 08 For Pennant Race Experience

As we move into Major League Baseball’s stretch run, the Tampa Bay Rays will have the added benefit of competing previously for the AL East championship as experience in their attempt to return to the post-season in 2009. No one foresaw the meteoric rise of Tampa Bay’s baseball club in 2008. Before the season, many fans were hopeful that Tampa Bay could have a .500 or better season for the first time in franchise history. It was a young, talented club with just enough veteran leadership that may help them shed their loser legacy. A team with potential, which as football coach Bill Parcells said, meant they “hadn’t done it yet.” When the season began in ‘08, it wasn’t with a roar. Tampa Bay began 8-11 and in the all too familiar position of dead last in the American League East. Then, as if a switch suddenly was flipped, Tampa Bay started winning…and winning…and winning some more. For the first time in franchise history, they ha...