EPILOGUE
Prior to the season, you could get 2 to 1 odds on betting the Rays to win 78 games. Fire sale, tanking, 100-loss season, it’s what’s wrong with baseball, go throw some money at free agent starting pitching, you cheap bastards!!!
But while the aristocrats of the east rode their riches to 100-win seasons and the Jays and the O’s flailed away—overpaying for underperformance, trying to fight raging fire with tiny flames—some former Goldman bankers, a bunch of math nerds, a supercomputer and Kevin Cash were scheming. And dreaming. Imagining and re-imagining. Putting “the book” and “the unwritten rules” through the shredder. They made bold trades. Dumped heroes and stars. Longoria’s bat is slowing down? Gone. Archer has lost his slider? Gone. Trusted their scouting and their analysis. Pham’s exit velocity is still elite despite some bad batted ball luck early in the season? Glasnow has electric stuff but the Pirates have totally mishandled him? Beeks had a couple bad starts in the town where pitching development goes to die? Buy low.
Payroll was last in the league. Expectations were non-existent. 75% of the players were unrecognizable. They had one healthy starting pitcher. They got off to a horrendous 3-12 start. And yet....
They put players in the best possible positions to succeed. They made the most of what they had. THEY REINVENTED PITCHING. And it worked. Wow, did it work. They broke the phalanx.
It was so much fun to watch. Sometimes moral victories really are the sweetest ones. I mean, a World Series would be nice, 2008 was certainly a blast, but watching a bunch of baseball guérillas live by their wits is pretty satisfying, too. Maybe this resonates with me more than most, just given my own interests and history, but the last 6 weeks of the season were a pure, love of the game type experience. There was no real hope of a playoff spot, but there was this wonderful run, a plan coming together, a young kid who came up through the system chasing a CY and becoming a stud in real time.
This team is headed in the right direction. The farm is loaded. Next year will bring dreams of contention. They will sneak up on no one. But for now, this season stands on its own as an unqualified success.
(And major credit to jonabbey for starting the season thread. That was good for at least 5 wins, right there.)