Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. They are currently a member of the American League East Division. Since their inception, their home venue has been Tropicana Field. Their current manager is Joe Maddon.

Following nearly three decades of unsuccessfully trying to gain an expansion franchise or enticing existing teams to relocate to the Tampa Bay area, an ownership group led by Vince Naimoli was approved in in 1995. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays began play in the 1998 Major League Baseball season.

Their first decade of play, however, was marked by futility; they finished in last place in the American League East in all but the 2004 season, when they finished in fourth place. Following the 2007 season, Stuart Sternberg, who had purchased controlling interest in the team from Vince Naimoli two years earlier, changed the team's name to “Rays” to represent the team as “...a beacon that radiates throughout Tampa Bay and across the entire state of Florida”. The team's largely disliked original rainbow color scheme was changed to Navy blue, Columbia blue, and gold; a new serifed logo with a stylized asymmetrical sunburst was also adopted. Save for "Turn Back the Clock" games, in which "throwback" uniforms are worn, the same logo appears on all regular and alternate home and road jerseys. A variation of the old manta ray logo was retained as a sleeve logo. Amid persistent rumors that the team may be contracted at some future date, the 2008 season saw the Tampa Bay Rays have their first winning season with a 97–65 record and win their first AL East championship. They defeated the rival Boston Red Sox to win the American League Championship, but lost to the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies in that year's World Series. Since then, the Rays won their second AL East championship in 2010, and qualified for the postseason as a wild card team in 2011.

The Tampa Bay Rays' chief rivals are the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Regarding the former, there have been several notable on-field incidents. The Rays also have an intrastate rivalry with the National League's Miami Marlins (originally the Florida Marlins), whom they play in the “Citrus Series”. The Marlins lead the series 43–42.