Tampa Bay Rays clinch first ever playoff berth

The improbable 2008 run of the Tampa Bay Rays continued Saturday night with a 7-2 victory over Minnesota at Tropicana Field, earning the team their first ever playoff berth and extending their division lead over Boston to 2.5 games.  Scott Kazmir—who raised eyebrows in the preseason with his claim that the perennial cellar dwellers were “good enough to play in October” got the victory and explained the basis on which he made his bold prediction:
"I knew we had something here. I knew we had the depth. I knew we had the pitching. I knew we had everything. We just had to put it together, and we did."

Perhaps the most important thing that Tampa Bay got right this year was chemistry.  For a long time the team formerly known as the “Devil Rays” was considered something of a MLB Siberia, a second rate franchise  caught somewhere in a nether world between the minors and actual Major League baseball.  Their home venue at Tropicana Field reflected this, a drab facility that offered nothing in the way of “home field advantage”.  That all changed this year under manager Joe Maddon and presumptive rookie of the year Evan Longoria.  The Rays had swagger, heart and toughness and became a team that found ways to win despite injuries and adversity rather than using their hardships as excuses with which to rationalize losses.

In the process, Tropicana Field has become the toughest place in the sport for visiting teams to play.  Heading into Sunday’s action, Tampa Bay has the best home record in the MLB with a 57-24 record.  That puts the Rays into the same class as the two other dominant home teams in baseball this year, the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox who play in venerable Wrigley Field and Fenway Park respectively.  And while “The Trop” can’t match those stadiums in terms of retro charm the Rays but the team has put tens of millions of dollars into renovation during the past few years, including the installation of a tank housing live Cownose Rays just beyond the centerfield wall.

Despite their lack of postseason experience, this Tampa team isn’t content to just make the playoffs.  They’re still shooting for the divisional title, and they have an outside shot at the best record in baseball which would give them home field advantage throughout the postseason.