Commentary

Rays manage to keep up with big boys

FILE - In this May 7, 2019, file photo, Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe, left, celebrates with third base coach Rodney Linares after hitting a home run off Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Taylor Clarke during the first inning of a baseball game in St. Petersburg, Fla. They have a terrible stadium, hardly any fans and one of baseball's smallest payrolls. Yet, somehow, the Rays stay competitive year after year. It is one of the most compelling stories in sports, even if few people notice. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
FILE - In this May 7, 2019, file photo, Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe, left, celebrates with third base coach Rodney Linares after hitting a home run off Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Taylor Clarke during the first inning of a baseball game in St. Petersburg, Fla. They have a terrible stadium, hardly any fans and one of baseball's smallest payrolls. Yet, somehow, the Rays stay competitive year after year. It is one of the most compelling stories in sports, even if few people notice. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

They play in an architectural nightmare of a ballpark.

They are treated like pariahs in their own community.

They have to get by with one of baseball's stingiest payrolls.

Yet, somehow, the Tampa Bay Rays make it work.

It's one of the most compelling stories in sports, even if few people take notice.

"Whatever you want to label us, it's honestly irrelevant," outfielder Kevin Kiermaier said. "We know we're good and we can go a long way with the guys we have here."

The Rays went into a weekend series against the mighty New York Yankees leading the American League East by a half-game. Never mind that Tampa Bay started the year with a penny-pinching payroll of just $60.6 million -- $10 million less than the 29th-lowest team (a Miami Marlins team headed toward a historically awful season) and barely a fourth of what the reigning World Series champion Boston Red Sox doled out to assemble the most expensive roster.

When the Rays (and their West Coast soul mates, the Oakland Athletics) have a hole to fill, they can't just throw money at it like the big-market teams. They have to maintain a never-ending cycle of prescient drafts (AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell was a first-round pick in 2011), wily trades (Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow are top young players acquired from the Pirates) and scouring free agency for the occasional bargain (15-game winner Charlie Morton took a two-year contract that didn't break the bank).

Also required: thinking outside the box, which led to the Rays to the idea of starting the game with an "opener" -- a reliever who works just the first inning or two before turning the game over to other relievers, allowing the team to shorten its rotation, maximize its bullpen and create matchup problems for opposing lineups.

Tampa Bay has five 90-win campaigns, three playoff appearances and only one really awful season over the past decade. They seemed to be fading just a bit after losing wunderkind general manager Andrew Friedman to the Los Angeles Dodgers and longtime manager Joe Maddon to the Chicago Cubs, only to bounce back last season with a 90-72 mark.

Thirty-six-year-old General Manager Erik Neander, a numbers-savvy graduate of Virginia Tech who didn't have any experience as a player or coach when he joined the Rays' front office, picked up where Friedman left off. Kevin Cash was only 37 when he replaced Maddon but quickly developed into one of baseball's most-respected managers.

Like those who came before them, there's a real good chance Neander and Cash will find themselves fielding offers from better-funded teams in the very near future. But, for now, they're enjoying the challenge of making sure the Rays don't just survive, but thrive.

Playing in desolate Tropicana Field, a 1980s relic with a roof that won't open that essentially epitomizes everything that can go wrong when designing a ballpark (catwalks, anyone?), the Rays have pushed for more than a decade to build a spiffy new home.

No luck.

For now, the Rays' big stadium move was closing off the entire upper deck at Tropicana Field, reducing the official capacity to around 25,000 in a facility that can hold up to 45,000. They certainly don't need all those seats, having drawn a paltry 14,540 per game despite a 26-15 start.

Only the Marlins attract fewer fans, but they've worked hard to drive crowds away.

The Rays deserve far better support than they've received from the Tampa Bay area, ranking last or next-to-last in attendance for eight consecutive seasons. Major League Baseball should probably be pushing to find this franchise a new home (Montreal? Portland? Anywhere?).

In the meantime, the Rays just go about their business.

Let others have massive payrolls, fancy ballparks and rabid fan support.

None are required for this remarkably resilient franchise.

Sports on 05/18/2019

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