· The Rays were established as an expansion team in 1998 as the Devil Rays.
· They changed their name to the Rays in 2008.
· They got their name from a name the team contest with String Rays being the winner but due to trademarks by a Hawaiian Winter League team they went with Devil. They are often found in the bay offshore in that area.
· They play their games at Tropicana Field which is located in St. Petersburg, Florida.
· They have made the playoffs five times with three wild card berths and two divisional titles.
· They have one won AL Pennant.
Batting Lineup:
1. LF Carl Crawford
2. 2B Ben Zobrist
3. 3B Aubrey Huff
4. 1B Fred McGriff
5. RF Greg Vaughn
6. DH Carlos Pena
7. CF BJ Upton
8. SS Julio Lugo
9. C Toby Hall
Starting Rotation:
1. Scott Kazmir
3. David Price
4. Matt Garza
Bullpen:
1. Closer: Roberto Hernandez
2. Esteban Yan
4. Dan Wheeler
5. Joel Peral
6. JP Howell
Bench:
OF-Randy Winn
INF-Miguel Cairo
INF-Jorge Cantu
Coaching Staff:
Manager-Joe Maddon
Joe Maddon managed the Rays for nine seasons where he finished with the most wins with 754. He guided them to the playoffs four times, one AL Pennant and won AL Manager of the Year twice.
Bench Coach-Kevin Cash
Kevin Cash has managed the Rays for five seasons where he already has the second most wins with 414. He guided them to the playoffs once and played for them for one season.
1B Coach-Lou Piniella
Lou Piniella managed the Rays for three seasons where he finished with the fourth most wins with 200. He guided them to their first ever 70 win seasons and their first time not in last place.
3B Coach-Hal McRae
Hal McRae managed the Rays for two seasons where he finished the fourth most wins with 113.
Hitting Coach-George Hendrick
George Hendrick was the Rays first base/outfield coach for nine seasons and is now a senior advisor to baseball operations. He was a four time All-Star, won two silver sluggers and won two World Series Championships.
Pitching Coach-Larry Rothschild
Larry Rothschild managed the Rays for four seasons where he finished with the third most wins with 205. He was their first ever manager.
Bullpen Coach-Tom Foley
Tom Foley has been a bench coach or third base coach for the Rays for seventeen seasons. He started off as the minor league infield coordinator, managed the single A team during its first season where he won manager of the year, then was the director of minor league operations before becoming their longest tenured coach and now is working back in the front office.
There has been one Hall of Fame player who has played for them at one during his respective career. They have one number retired for a player and one number for a coach.
Fred McGriff spent five seasons in the infield for the Rays as their greatest first basemen where he made one of his five All-Star appearances while there and is one of two players to hit at least 30-home runs in one season for five different teams. He also finished in the top 10 for many offensive categories in Rays history like having the highest on base percentage, slugging percentage, second highest batting average, fifth most walks, sixth most singles, hits, seventh most RBIs, total bases and home runs to name some.
Aubrey Huff spent seven seasons in the infield or outfield for the Rays where he has the most hits-doubles in a season in their history, is one of three players to play all 162 games in their history and led them in home runs once season despite starting in the minors becoming the first player to do that in years while there. He also finished in the top 10 for many offensive categories in Rays history like having the third most home runs, fourth highest slugging percentage, fifth highest batting average, fifth most games played, at bats, plate appearances, hits, total bases, doubles, RBIs, singles and extra base hits to name some.
Carl Crawford spent nine seasons in the outfield for the Rays as their greatest/longest tenured outfielder/greatest/longest tenured left fielder where he made all four of his All-Star appearances, led the AL in stolen bases four times, won his only silver slugger, led the AL in triples twice, won the fielding bible award three times, won an All-Star game MVP and won his only gold glove, was the first Rays player to name the All-Star twice while there. He was the eight youngest player to get to 200 stolen bases before his 25th birthday, was eight player to get 1000 hits-have 250 stolen bases before his 27thbirthday, tied a modern day record of six stolen bases in a game, seventh player to reach 400 stolen bases before his 29th birthday and he joined Ty Cobb as the only players to get 100 triples-400 steals before his 30thbirthday. He also finished in the top 10 for many offensive categories in Rays history like having the highest batting average, most hits, stolen bases, triples, singles, second highest WAR for position players, second most games played, at bats, plate appearances, runs scored, total bases, RBIs and extra base hits to name some.
Ben Zobrist spent nine seasons all over the diamond for the Rays as their greatest second basemen where he made two of his three All-Star appearances while there. He also finished in the top 10 for many offensive categories in Rays history like having the second highest offensive WAR, second most doubles, walks, third most extra base hits, singles, stolen bases, RBIs, triples, total bases, hits, at bats, plate appearances, runs scored, games played and third highest on base percentage, third highest WAR for position players and third highest defensive WAR to name some.
BJ Upton spent nine seasons in the infield or outfield for the Rays as their greatest center fielder where he had one 20-20 season and was their first player to hit for the cycle while there. He also finished in the top 10 for many offensive categories in Rays history like having the second most stolen bases, fourth highest offensive WAR, fourth most games played, at bats, plate appearances, runs scored, hits, total bases, doubles, home runs, walks, singles and extra base hits to name some.
Carlos Pena spent five seasons in the infield for the Rays as their second greatest first basemen where he made his only All-Star appearance, won his only gold glove the first ever in Rays history, won his only silver slugger, won AL Comeback Player of the Year and led the AL in home runs once while there. He also finished in the top 10 for many offensive categories in Rays history like having the second highest on base percentage, second most home runs, third most walks, third highest slugging percentage, fourth most RBIs, fifth most runs scored, fifth highest offensive WAR and fifth highest WAR for position players to name some.
Greg Vaughn spent three seasons in the outfield for the Rays where he made one of his four All-Star appearances while there. He also finished with the tenth most walks in Rays history.
Julio Lugo spent four seasons in the infield for the Rays as their greatest/longest tenured shortstop where he hit fifteen home runs in one season. He also finished in the top 10 for many offensive categories in Rays history like having the fifth highest on base percentage, batting average, sixth most stolen bases, seventh most singles, seventh highest offensive WAR and seventh highest WAR for a position player to name some.
Toby Hall spent seven seasons behind the plate for the Rays as their greatest/longest tenured catcher where he finished with the fourth highest defensive WAR, seventh most doubles, eight most singles, ninth most RBIs, games played, tenth most at bats and hits in Rays history.
Scott Kazmir pitched six seasons for the Rays where he made two of his three All-Star appearances, was the first Rays player to have a 200-strikeout season and led the AL in strikeouts once while there. He also finished in the top 10 for many pitching categories in Rays history like having the third most wins, third highest WAR for pitchers, fourth most strikeouts, innings pitched and games started to name some.
James Shields pitched seven seasons for the Rays where he made his only All-Star appearance and is only Rays pitcher to win a World Series game while there. He also finished in the top 10 for many pitching categories in Rays history like having the most wins, innings pitched, strikeouts, games started, complete games, shutouts and second highest WAR for pitchers to name some.
David Price pitched seven years for the Rays where he four of his five All-Star appearances, led the AL in ERA once, led the majors in strikeouts once, led the AL in wins once, was the first 20-game winner in Rays history and won the AL CY Young award once while there. He also finished in the top 10 for many pitching categories in Rays history like having the lowest ERA, the highest WAR for position players, the best win-loss percentage, second most wins, complete games and innings pitched to name some.
Matt Garza pitched three seasons for the Rays where he pitched a no-hitter the first in Rays history and was the 2008 ALCS MVP while there. He also finished in the top 10 for many pitching categories in Rays history like having the second most shutouts, third most complete games, seventh lowest ERA, seventh highest WAR for pitchers and eight most innings pitched to name some.
Jeremy Hellickson pitched five seasons for the Rays where he won AL Rookie of the Year and won his only gold glove while there. He also finished in the top 10 for many pitching categories in Rays history like having the fifth lowest ERA, sixth most wins, seventh most innings pitched and game started to name some. Other notable pitchers in Rays history have been Wilson Alvarez, Hideo Nomo, Jason Hammel, active pitchers Edwin Jackson, Alex Cobb, Drew Smyly, Matt Moore, Jake Odorizzi and Chris Archer.
Rocco Baldelli spent six seasons in the outfield for the Rays where he finished third in AL Rookie of the Year while there. When he retired he became a minor league coach, then a roving minor league instructor, then the first base coach and then major league field coordinator. He also finished with the fifth highest slugging percentage, eight highest batting average, ninth most triples, tenth most RBIs and stolen bases in Rays history.
Randy Winn spent five seasons in the outfield for the Rays where he made his only All-Star appearance while there. He finished with the fourth most triples, seventh most stolen bases, eight highest on base percentage, ninth highest batting average and tenth most singles in Rays history. Other notable outfielders in Rays history have been Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, Pat Burrell, Jose Canseco, Luke Scott, Cliff Floyd, Jonny Gomes, Delmon Young, Ben Grieve, active players Matt Joyce, Desmond Jennings, Corey Dickerson, Kevin Kiermaier, Steven Souza and Wil Myers.
Miguel Cairo spent three seasons in the infield for the Rays where he finished with the eight most stolen bases and tenth highest defensive WAR in Rays history while there.
Jorge Cantu spent four seasons in the infield for the Rays where he was the Rays team MVP in 2005 while there. Other notable infielders in Rays history have been Tino Martinez, Rey Sanchez, Jason Bartlett, Chris Gomez, Ty Wigginton, Alex Gonzalez, Vinny Castilla, active players Asdrubal Cabrera, Yunel Escobar, Evan Longoria and Hall of Famer Wade Boggs.
Dioner Navarro spent five seasons behind the plate for the Rays where he made his only All-Star appearance while there. Other notable catches in Rays history have been Jose Molina and Wilson Ramos who is active.
Roberto Hernandez was the Rays closer for three seasons where he made one of his two All-Star appearances while there. He also finished with the most saves, games finished and ninth most games played in Rays history.
Esteban Yan was the Rays closer for five seasons where he hit a homerun and was mentioned on the Simpsons while there. He also finished with the second most games finished, fourth most games played and seventh most saves in Rays history.
Fernando Rodney was the Rays closer for two seasons where he made one of his three All-Star appearances, won AL Comeback Player of the Year and relieve of the year once while there. He also finished with the third most saves and fifth most games finished in Rays history.
Dan Wheeler spent seven seasons in the bullpen for the Rays where he was one of four pitchers to appear in 70 games for four seasons straight while there. He also finished with the fifth most games played and tenth most games finished in Rays history.
Joel Peralta spent four seasons in the Rays bullpen where he appeared in the second most games in the AL in 2010 with 70 which would be the start of three straight seasons of appearing in 70+ games, led the AL in games appeared once and led the AL in holds once while there. He also finished with the second most games played in Rays history.
JP Howell spent seven seasons in the bullpen for the Rays where he finished with the sixth most games played in Rays history while there. Other notable relievers in Rays history have been Kyle Farnsworth, Grant Balfour, Danys Baez, Rafael Soriano and Troy Percival.
