Rays vs. Phillis

I would have never guessed that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays OR the Philadelphia Phillies would have finished over .500, let alone win their division. Then to think that both teams would win their playoff series and continue on to the World Series seemed even more impossible. Now the two most improbable teams in the league are battling it out for the greatest title in baseball.

I mean it's about time that we see someone else besides the Yankees or the Red Sox make it to the end. Having two new teams in the World Series is definitely going to spark up new interest in baseball. Aside from New York and Boston fans, I think it’s safe to say that baseball viewers look forward to see other teams compete this year. Not to mention, teams that have a significant lower budget than the overly wealthy Yankees and Red Sox. Maybe there is still a chance that baseball is something more than money and power.

The Rays are an expansion team, one of the last to be added to Major League Baseball. Over the last decade two expansion teams have made it to the World Series, whereas teams like the Chicago Cubs, one of the oldest teams in the Majors, haven’t taken a World Series title in 100 years. It is interesting that one of the newest teams in the league is competing against a team as old as the league itself.

Now let’s not forget though how unlikely a Phillies vs. Rays World Series would have sounded last year. The Phillies are a team that took the ten thousandth loss in the franchise during last year’s season, this year they make it to the end. The Rays are a team that has never had anything close to a winning season; they have managed to pull themselves up from last place in the league to first place in the league this season.

A Rays vs. Phillies World Series is what America’s favorite pastime is supposed to be about. Baseball should be about an inspiring story or having the chance to root for a team in the World Series that you have believed in all of your life. It’s about determination, strength, and motivation, not about which team has the most money or the largest percentage of sold out games.

We’ve lost the excitement of seven-game battles and unbelievable competitive nature between Major League teams. This year’s World Series demonstrates that two turnaround stories can time and time again prove skeptics wrong. No matter who takes the title this year, the Rays and the Phillies will each be writing their own history and giving hope to fans, as well as other teams in the league, that the World Series is still anyone’s game, well maybe except for the Cubs.