 The Tampa Bay Devil is a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg , Florida . The team became the devil rays in the year 1998 before that it was an expansion team. Rays were the first expansion team to enter the American League after the Mariners and Blue Jays were included in the year 1977. The team lost there very firs session in the years 1998 against Detroit tigers. The team did not win much gamers in the first session as they won only 63 games and lost as many as 99.In the next session Wade Boggs, a Tampa native became the first player to hit a Home Run for his 3,000 th career base hit. . In 2000 the team stood winning 69 and finishing in last for the third straight season. The Devil Rays finished the season in last place with a 69-92 record.
Tampa has not played in the post season. Larry Rothschild served as the team manager from 1998 through early in the 2001 season. He compiled a 201-284 record through the beginning of the 2000 season. The team played miserable games as they finished at Last Place for the 4th year in a row. In 2002 rays still registered miserable record as they made a posting a horrid 55-106 record. The season 2002 is considered as the worst record as they registered the worst record in the history. Exactly 5 years to the date of their first every game the Devil Rays began the Lou Piniella era in dramatic fashion as Carl Crawford hit a dramatic 3-run walk off homer to give the Devil Rays a 6-4 win over the Boston Red Sox in 2003 season. As the season progressed the Devils Rays played a more competitive style of baseball and were able to avoid their third straight 100-loss season while posting a record of 63-99. In the season 2004 the Rays jumped on the Yankees in the first game winning 8-3 as Victor Zambrano handcuffed the vaunted Bronx Bombers. The season 2004 is considered as the best season of the team as they recorded best record in this session.
The team escaped last place for the first t ime in team history as they finished 3 games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays with a 71-91 record which was their best record to date. After setbacks in the 2005 season that left them again last place in the division, and tired of what he felt was a non commitment to winning now by the ownership group, Lou Piniella agreed to a buy out of the last year of his contract. They finished 67-95 overall, making them 39-34 since the All-Star Break after a 28-61 start. The Rays continued to play spoilers in the second half, with a winning record, and timely victories over contenders such as the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The hall of Hall of Famers includes Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Al Lopez, and Monte Irvin. The team is currently managed by Joe Maddon.
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