Why All Good-Hearted Dreamers Cheer For the Rays

A great deal of my love of baseball comes from analyzing, discussing, and projecting the countless statistics the game creates. It is sometimes incredibly frustrating to me the degree to which most members of the sports media insist on throwing out claims about the game that really don't mean anything and have no statistical backing whatsoever. For the most part, I want logical, scientific analysis of the game. Does playoff experience matter? I have no idea (I suspect it matters much less than it is portrayed) but if you're going to claim it does, show me some statistics that prove it. However, most people aren't like this. Human beings love a good story, and one of the most timeless narratives we have is that of the plucky underdog overcoming all the odds to succeed. And even I'll admit that I'm a complete and total sucker for that one, at least when it happens in the real world. The Tampa Bay Rays had never had a winning record. They had never won more than 70 games in a season. They had no fans. They were laughing stocks. And yet, slowly, quietly, and with a good deal of intelligence and baseball acumen (and a bunch of high draft picks) they were assembling a pretty fine baseball team. And they started winning. And people who don't know a thing about baseball started to call them out, without even looking at the talent on their roster, and telling that they needed to wake up and remember that they were The Tampa Bay Devil Rays and start losing again, just like they always do. (That post probably increased my fandom for the Rays 6-fold. I would love to get him to revisit that post today). And yet here they are, playing in the World Series.

If you have ever played for a team that people didn't believe in, come from a part of the world that people use as the butt of jokes, or just love an underdog-does-good story, you owe it to yourself to at least give a little bit of love for the Rays, and teams like them. I played for an underdog high school in an underdog province from an underdog country (well, at least compared the only one we ever compare it to), and I'll always cheer for the little, underfunded team to upset the powerful juggernaut with a huge payroll. This is especially true in sports like college football where the difference between teams is so pronounced, but even in professional sports we have the Rays and their (2nd lowest in baseball) $43 million payroll managing to topple the behemoths of the Red Sox and Yankees in their own division, with about $350 million spent on players between them. Unless you're the CEO of Wall Street investment bank (well...)cheering for the little guy just does something for the soul and inspires all of us that maybe we can surprise a few people, and maybe ourselves, too.