Tampa Bay Rays

This is not what the Rays envisioned in the second season.

They did not anticipate striking out a lot. They did not anticipate leaving many men on base. They did not think their ace would fail when it mattered. They did not think they would be in danger of being eliminated by the Rangers.

This is exactly what happened. This fine season has gone ugly in the span of two days.

The Rays will be heading to Arlington down by two games, and they will be lucky if this series goes back to Tropicana Field.

The Tampa Bay Rays have been among the league's best defensive teams for the past three years. This year they rank third in team Defensive Efficiency according to Baseball Prospectus. Ben Zobrist was solidly above average with the glove at four defensive positions. James Shields, for the fourth straight year, was a good hurler when it came to stopping the running game.

The Tampa Bay Rays took home their second division title in just the past three seasons last week with a Yankees loss to the Red Sox.

This came after not making the playoffs in their first 10 years of existence.

They did so with great draft strategies and good systematic development of talent to create big-league-ready ball players.

James Shields takes the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays today with his team already down 1-0 in their American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers.

Talk about Tim Welke screwing Carlos Pena. Talk about the Rays struggling on offense. Talk about Joe Maddon’s bizarre decision to play Rocco Baldelli as the designated hitter.

Those played a role in the Rays’s 5-1 loss to the Rangers, but that wasn’t the reason why the Rays lost the playoff opener.

They lost because David Price did not pitch well. Price’s job was to keep up with Cliff Lee in every inning, but it did not happen yesterday.

Speed kills.

Ask the Yankees circa 2004 when a stolen base by Dave Roberts in the bottom of the ninth kept the Red Sox—down 3-0 in the American League Championship Series and 4-3 in Game 4—alive and propelled them forward to the greatest comeback in baseball history.

Or maybe you could just look at the 1982 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers.

Perhaps the most evenly matched series will start in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. Let’s take a look at the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers series at a glance…

Schedule

With the MLB playoffs just hours away, many fans are inevitably experiencing their own version of postseason baseball butterflies.

But it isn’t just the fans that are trying to quell their nervousness; it’s also a handful of players who are playing for more than just a shot at the Fall Classic.

No pressure, really.

Lurking in the dugouts of the eight remaining teams are a collection of various players who are not only trying to help their respective teams advance in the playoffs but are also trying to prove their free-agency worth.

WDAE’s drive-time show host Steve Duemig has a Facebook page for fans to talk sports in the Tampa Bay area.

Looking at his Facebook page, there are many vociferous Joe Maddon critics that post about the Rays manager’s decisions in a game.

This has been going on for the last few years. Many people think Maddon tends to outsmart himself by fielding different lineups or using different relievers to get an out.

The Philadelphia Phillies are associated with the month October.  For the past two seasons they have been the Kings of this month without much adieu.  They now boast the top pitching rotation in the field and already owned one of the game's best line-ups.  A line-up that still hasn't hit its stride yet this season. This post-season has a different feel, as they now look to achieve success through their arms rather than their bats.