The Tampa Bay Rays and Baseball's Circle of Life

I have a movie idea that actually developed during the crazy September races. Its going to be about a 1899 baseball team. There was a ballclub back in the 1890s called the Cleveland Spiders, which was not drawing good attendance figures for several years. The owners spent decent money, and even won a championship with this team several years earlier---but the people just weren’t showing up, and they just weren’t making enough money. So in a pure act of revenge, these two owners buy a second baseball team in the same exact league (St. Louis Perfectos, eventually becoming the St. Louis Cardinals), transfer all the excellent players to said new team, and spit up a bunch of minor league misfits to play for the Spiders.


The Spiders went on to become the worst baseball team in the sport’s excellent and lengthy history with a 20-134 record, with a TOTAL attendance of 3,179 people----most likely also the worst in the history of baseball. All of this is true, but I am going to spice things up with a bit of fiction. My movie (The Series) will be about the last four games of the Cleveland Spiders’ season, which happens to be against the St. Louis Cardinals, a team fighting for a playoff spot, that second team that shares the same owner. The bulk of the movie will be the Cleveland Spiders trying to play spoilers as a pure attempted act of revenge against the owners and their new franchise---especially after learning that the team will dissipate after the season.

Now, the script idea dwells deeper than just an extremely tense and hostile 4-game series which sees all of baseball wanting to see the Cardinals go in—it looks upon the relationship between fans, and owners, and players. How much blame should be placed on the owners for a dying team if the fans don’t show up? How much blame should be placed on the fans for not providing enough revenue to keep a team competing in the Major Leagues? And lastly, how can you blame the team for an incompetent season if they have no fans, no light at the end of the tunnel, no momentum? Is the failure/success of a season dependent totally on just the team? Or is it a collective effort from the fans, owners, players, and ultimately the city?


Part of this argument that eventually sets the themes of my baseball movie comes from the 2011 season of the Tampa Bay Rays. This squad lost at least 12 players between the end of last season and the first week of the new season. Worst of all, they were most of our better players, the players that helped the organization win the AL East in 2010. This happened because lower attendance numbers for the millionth season in a row prompted for the owner to cut costs heavily, not allowing for the Rays to re-sign all of the players prepared to head elsewhere. While losing Carl Crawford and Raphael Soriano was inevitable, losing the smaller key players like Grant Balfour, Tony Pena (despite a miserable average, still provided power numbers), Matt Garza, Benoit, among others hurt a bit more. There was no way this team was going anywhere. They were predicted to remain dead last in the AL East, especially after losing the first six games.


A funny thing happened: the Rays made a run. They were first place in May, and lingered throughout the standings throughout the summer. The trading deadline was upon us, but because of the still-depleting attendance figures and the owners being intent on maintaining their minimal budget, we didn’t make a move. Nothing. No push to trade the valuable Upton, no trading Shields even though we had several starters and one in the minors ready to jump in, and no attempts for a move to make a true push. While the Rays were a decent team, they still had a struggling offense that was constantly being bailed out by the phenomenal pitching. Adam Dunn was available. Hunter Pence was available. Despite the longshot, Prince Fielder was available. A lot of availability out there, but nothing happened.

We can call this Rays team a pure miracle. The owners gave up on them (secretly), all the pundits gave up on them, the fans gave up on them (15%+ attendance drop this season), ESPN gave up on them, and overall baseball gave up on them. They were reduced to being the thorns on the sides of the Yankees and Red Sox, as this Tampa team always plays them tough. We rose from being a thorn and became a playoff team despite being down 9 games in September, despite being nearly eliminated almost every day in late September, and despite having a plethora of rookies and leftovers running the show. Originally, the Rays were the team to look out for in terms of playing spoilers.

Instead, by pure miracle, heart, and determination, we stormed into the playoffs in the final game of the season after an intense battle against the Yankees. We had the guts the Yankees lacked, the heart the Red Sox lacked, and the pure determination that most of your higher-payroll teams could never develop. This wasn’t the best Rays team in history, but its definitely the team I was proudest of. As opposed to taking a step back in the season when we lost everyone, Joe Maddon pushed everyone to the brink and we entered the postseason regardless. Its just a shame the Cinderella story has ended. We lost to a better team; it’s as simple as that. The Texas Rangers gave us a good fight, and ultimately won.

Here’s the difference: their owner, Nolan Ryan, really wants to win. Ryan pulled out all the stops to change his team into an even stronger ballclub than the World Series team the year before:


• Esteban German, minor league deal, November 2010
• Yorvit Torrealba, two-year, $6.25MM signing, November 2010
• Endy Chavez, minor league signing, December 2010
• Adrian Beltre, five-year, $80MM signing January, 2011
• Mike Napoli, acquired from Blue Jays for Frank Francisco January 2011
• Koji Uehara, acquired from Orioles for Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter, July 2011
• Mike Adams, acquired from Padres for Joseph Wieland and Robert Erlin, July 2011
• Mike Gonzalez, acquired from Orioles for Pedro Strop, August 2011
• Matt Treanor, acquired from Royals, August 2011

So the question is, how good could this Rays team have been if we had gotten the same attention that owners and general managers give to the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, Phillies, Dodgers, and Mets? Now I am not saying the Rays should spend as much as they do, but actually put an effort and make some moves, try to keep the roster that won a division title. We were honestly a few bats away from being a legitimate elite team. We were already one of the fastest teams in baseball, one of the best fielding teams in baseball, and have one of the strongest starting pitching rotations in baseball. What if the fans had shown up? What if that revenue started coming in? What if we got that one necessary big bat?

I am proud to death of this Rays organization for providing great baseball to middle Florida in recent years, especially this year. But, that being said, I can only ponder what type of team we’d be if we just had the money required, if we just had the slightly higher payroll. Look at the Brewers: not a team that spends a lot of money, but does spend, do pick up players, and do continue to maintain a fun fanbase. Now, they are one game away from going to the NLCS for the first time in who-knows-how-long. The scouts and coaches here have all the makings and talent of crafting a World Series-caliber team—we just need more care.

And so the argument persists: who are we to criticize the front office when we don’t show up to the games? Who are we to get mad when they don’t spend much when we don’t spend $10 to see a baseball game in an air conditioned (albeit, crappy) stadium? That’s what I plan on exploring when I (eventually) write the script for The Series. The Cleveland Spiders were constantly winning, yet nobody was showing up to the games. So, are the owners really the villains for setting their sights elsewhere? Or is it the fault of the fanbase? In a Circle of Life-like cycle, the fans depend on the team and to a smaller extent the owners, the team depends on the owners and slightly the fans to have the mental advantage, and the owners depend on the team and the fans significantly. No fans means no money, no money needs less of a chance to compete, and less of a chance leads to a weaker team or a team with minimal future---which leads to less fans watching. It’s a tough cycle the Rays are in, and unfortunately despite all the winning they can’t seem to escape the yearly uncertainty.

Tampa Bay Rays, I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart for a spectacular 2011 season that was never supposed to take off the way it did. Despite being 0-6 in the first week of baseball, despite losing the division lead in the summer, despite being 9 back in September, despite being 3+ back with less than 10 games left, and despite trailing 7-0, the Rays hung on and made the postseason in thrilling fashion. I couldn’t be prouder. Hopefully next season our fanbase will be better, leading to more popularity, leading to more money, and hopefully leading to more opportunity for the Rays to build the team necessary to win finally win the World Series. Joe Maddon deserves it, the front office deserves it, and the fans......well.......Joe Maddon deserves it.

Thanks for a wonderful season Rays, you brought me more amazing memories, and more reasons to forever be a big baseball fan.

Go Rays!!