Team Spotlight: Tampa Bay Rays

St. Petersburg, Florida is well-known for its beautiful beaches, picturesque Fort De Soto Park, the world-renowned Salvador Dali Museum and many top-rated restaurants. Its gleaming St. Pete Pier combines the verdant greenery of the parks downtown and the peaceful blue waters of Tampa Bay. Besides these attractions, the city is also home to the hugely successful Tampa Bay Rays, a professional team that plays in the American League East, arguably the toughest division in American baseball.

Quick Facts about Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team competing in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the American League (AL) East division. Since its introduction into the league, the team’s main home venue has remained at the Tropicana Field.

Following almost 30 years of attempts to launch an expansion franchise in the Tampa Bay Area, a group led by Vince Naimoli gained approval and the team started to play as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998.

The Rays’ main rivals are the New York Yankees who also play in the same division and the Boston Red Sox where there have been several notable on-field incidents between the two teams.

Tampa Bay Rays Achievements

Tampa Bay Rays first won their AL East in 2008, since the team’s first foray into the MLB in 1998. They went on to play against the Philadelphia Phillies for the World Series but lost ultimately.

Ever since then, the Tampa Bay Rays have featured in the postseason a further six times, again emerging victorious in the AL East in 2020 and 2021, but fell just short of the World Series once more against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox respectively.

Tampa Bay Rays Logo

Since 2007, the team which was previously known as the “Devil Rays” changed its team name to just “Rays”, to mean both a ray of sunshine and a manta ray. Its logo is a simple yet striking print of the letters “Rays” in two tones of blue and also white, with the “R” having an elongated tail. A yellow sunburst appears on the “R” letter.

Tampa Bay Rays Mascot

The Rays have two primary mascots – DJ Kitty and Raymond. The former was first introduced in 2010 through a video that was played on the scoreboard to rally supporters and players alike. Raymond is a “seadog” inspired mascot that was first featured in the 1998 season. It can be seen rallying the crowd during and before games, even interacting with fans after games.

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