Tampa Bay, Philadelphia to meet in World Series

Tampa Bay survived a scare from the Boston Red Sox to defeat the defending world champions in 7 games and advance to the World Series.  They’ll face another surprise team, the Philadelphia Phillies, who have been on a torrid pace since late in the season.

Calling the Tampa Bay Rays a “surprise team” is the height of understatement.  Their transformation has been downright otherworldly.  The team has gone from being a laughingstock of professional baseball with a tomb for a home field venue to competing for the best record in baseball.  Here’s some perspective—before this year the closest the team had ever come to a division title was the year 2000 where a record of 69-92 left them 18 games out of first.  Tropicana Field has been transformed from a MLB Siberia, and the Rays posted the best home record in baseball.

Perhaps the best thing about the Tampa Bay story is that the team is most decidedly not a “fluke”.  Led by presumptive rookie of the year Evan Longoria—basically A Rod without the prima donna attitude—and a talented young pitching staff, the Rays are a team that could be very good for years to come.  Don’t forget that for much of the 70’s into the early 80’s the Atlanta Braves were also a perennial cellar dweller—like Tampa, they brought in some smart baseball people who started developing young talent and became postseason fixtures.

Philadelphia is a more realistic “surprise”—they’ve obviously got a storied baseball history, but haven’t done much in recent years either.  Actually, in a historical context the Phillies might be the most championship deprived team in baseball.  They’re one of the oldest teams, having been around for 126 years and have one championship to show for it.  That means they’ve got twice as many championships as the team most often identified with post season futility of historical proportions, the Chicago Cubs.  The city of Philadelphia hasn’t done much lately either—after a nice run during the 70’s and early 80’s when the “Broad Street Bullies” Flyers teams won a couple of Stanley Cups and the Sixers won an NBA championship in 1982-83 they haven’t won anything.  Twenty four years without a championship is bad for any major market, and particularly one that has such a long history in professional sports.

The World Series begins on Wednesday night in Tampa with a battle of talented young lefthanders.  The Rays will send Steve Kazmir to the hill while the Phillies will counter with Cole Hamels.  Game 2 will be played on Thursday night, with pitching matchups yet to be determined.