Catching Some Rays

As I usually do at this time of year, I actually watch major league baseball on t.v. For the 162 games that precede the playoffs, I ignore it. Both Chicago teams went down in flames, which left the best storyline to the Tampa Bay Rays, who before this year were the Devil Rays. So maybe getting rid of the devil helped them out.

Their series with the Red Sox was fun to watch. Tampa lost game 1, then thrashed the Sox in the next three games. Then, in game 5, they had a historic meltdown as they lost 8-7 after leading 7-0 with two outs in the 7th inning. They lost game 6 but then were able to win game 7 last night in a what was a very exciting game.

I saw a segment on ESPN about their owners. The primary owner is a 46-year old retired Goldman-Sachs financier. The team president, I believe is in his late 20's or early 30's and also came from Goldman-Sachs. They are definitely from the Mark Cuban school of executive sports management. Tampa Bay has been miserable in its support for the team, even this year as they went from worst to first. But the new owners have done a lot to get the fan base excited, starting with free parking at all games and making themselves very visible. I imagine their investment in the team is paying off big-time.

Now, it's off to the World Series to play the Phillies. I don't imagine this was the marquee match-up Fox was hoping for. Red Sox-Dodgers, Chicago-Chicago, anything but these two. It'll probably be the lowest rated World Series ever.