The Tampa Bay Rays are a very strange team.
Tampa Bay is one of the smallest among the 30 major league clubs. The combined population of St. Petersburg, where Tropicana Field is located, and Tampa, across the bay, is about 3 million.
Every year, the number of spectators ranks at the bottom, and sales and club value are the same.
In the ranking of major league clubs recently announced by economic magazine Forbes, it ranked 26th out of 30 teams with $1.25 billion.
The opening-day payroll announced by the AP on the 5th (Korean time) also showed that Tampa Bay ranked 27th with $75 million. At $355 million, it is one-fifth of the number one New York Mets. The same 26 employees are used, but the labor cost differs by 5 times.
The home crowd, which recorded 2.5 million in 1998, the season of its foundation, has never exceeded the 1 million mark. Since 2015, it has stayed at the bottom of the crowd mobilization with 1.1 million to 1.2 million each season. Last year, it ranked 28th with 1.13 million people. Perhaps thanks to the small amount of spending, the financial structure is stable, with a profit of 9.5 million dollars last year.
Since there are so few spectators, the Major League Baseball (MLB) urges them to come up with measures, such as moving their hometown to nearby Tampa or Clearwater or remodeling their home stadium in a stylish way. Evan Longoria, who played an active role in the past as a leading hitter, pointed out as he left the team, “It’s better to move to Tampa Bay. Even when I played in the Dominican Winter League, there were a lot of fans and I received enthusiastic support. It’s a scene you can’t see in Tampa Bay.”
However, owner Stuart Sternberg only complains and does not budge. The biggest reason is because the grades are good. From 2019 to last year, it has been in the postseason for four consecutive years. Twice, he finished first in the East Division, which was home to strong players such as the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays.
However, this year, Tampa Bay’s strength remains unchanged. As of the 6th, it has won 6 consecutive wins since the opening. It is the only undefeated team. In the away game against the Washington Nationals that day, they won 7-2. Starter Shane McClanahan led the win by pitching 5 hits and 2 runs in 6 innings, and in the other line, Wander Franco’s two-run home run and Harold Ramirez’s solo home run broke when needed.
In major league history, the opening six consecutive wins were rare. However, Tampa Bay’s winning streak this time is a bit special. They won all 6 matches by 4 points or more. It is said that they won the victory with overwhelming performance. Six consecutive victories by four or more points from the opening game is the first record in 139 years since the St. Louis Maroons in 1884. At that time, the Maroons had won 13 consecutive wins by 4 points or more after the opening.
The pitching index is overwhelming. Across both leagues, as of this day, 4th in team batting average (0.284), 2nd in team OPS (0.890), 1st in team home runs (13), 1st in team runs (44), 2nd in team ERA (2.00), and team WHIP (1.02) 3rd, team hit rate (0.202) 4th.
MLB.com said,메이저사이트 ‘Tampa Bay has now finished two series, but I’ve done everything except defeat’ and ‘throws well, defends well, and scores better than any other team. He is showing off his attack power with an impressive mix of contact ability, power, and speed.”
McLanahan, the winning pitcher, said, “This is team baseball. It was team baseball from start to finish.” Bullpen pitcher Ryan Thompson said, “I think we’ve been under some serious magic. We all felt that from spring training.” It’s hard to do. This year, the atmosphere seems to be a bit unusual,” he explained.
All I can say is “I’m good at baseball”.