Nov 12th 2008 9:00AM by Jacob Wheatley-Schaller (author feed)
As you may have heard, the Tampa Bay Rays burst onto the scene in 2008, finishing the regular season with 97 wins, 27 more than their previous franchise high of 70. They then breezed past the White Sox in the ALDS and survived Boston’s furious comeback in the ALCS before falling to the Phillies in the World Series.

On its face, Tampa’s story may seems similar to that of the 2007 Rockies, who were an afterthought in the pennant race in early September yet ended up still playing in late October. But in reality, the surprise teams of the last two years couldn’t be more different. While Colorado was led by guys in their late twenties having career years, the Rays were a very young team that came into its own earlier than expected. Nearly all of their key parts will be back for ‘09 and beyond; if Tampa Bay makes the right offseason moves, they’re set up quite nicely for a potentially dominant 3-5 year run.Continue Reading