The Tampa Bay Rays hosted the Toronto Blue Jays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. on Thursday for Opening Day. Not only did the Rays lose the game 8-2, but Tampa Bay also embarrassed themselves with the banner they raised.
The Rays unveiled a banner that celebrated the team’s 2023 wild card playoff berth.
Unveiling of #Rays 2023 AL wild card banner pic.twitter.com/xHm0Co8IUo
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 28, 2024
Yes, the Rays now have banners side-by-side celebrating the two years in a row that they made the wild card round of the playoffs and got swept by their opponents. Not just that, but recall that the Rays only scored 2 — yes, 2 — runs in those two series.
In 2022, they lost to Cleveland 2-1 and 1-0 in the best-of-3 series. Last year, Tampa Bay lost 4-0 and 7-1 to the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers.
The Rays are still a newer franchise that didn’t start playing until 1998. They still haven’t won a World Series, though they’ve appeared in two World Series. They’ve won the tough AL East four times. The only times they’ve advanced past the division series were the two years they reached the World Series.
The Rays may feel like they have to lower the bar for their celebratory banners since they’re a newer franchise and play in a tough division, but they shouldn’t.
If they didn’t win the pennant, they probably shouldn’t be raising a banner.
