prorl wrote:Wow! I am shocked. Will it last?
Will first place last through the season? Probably not. The pitching and defense so far has been unreal, and while they are good, they might not be able to sustain it at quite this level. The hitting, however, has arguably underperformed, so it's not completely out of the question. Worst-to-first has happened before. Also, their record so far is great inside the division, so it isn't as if they've been beating up on bad teams that they won't play again this year.
Will they have continued success over the years to come? Absolutely.
The Rays have finally gotten a good ownership group after years of Vince Namoli's not-so-good ownership. They've put a solid front office in place that has made great decisions based on the long-term outlook for the franchise. For example, not rushing kids up to the majors just because they're talented. Trading away players who won't be in the long-term plans for players who will be. Stockpiling good young pitchers in the draft.
With all the high draft picks they have had over the years, they've hoarded a ton of talent. They have a very good, young pitching staff, with more young pitchers on the way in the minors.
They have an athletic, exciting-to-watch team that is only going to continue to improve. Feel free to hop aboard the bandwagon!
As a mostly Tampa Bay sports fan, the 08 Rays to me feel a bit like the 95 Bucs or the 01 Lightning: a young team with years of historical futility that finally has good ownership/front office and is ready to make a run at respectability, and one day, a championship.
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