Tampa Bay Rays Baseball

[GatorGrad]

I have to give a shout out to the first place Tampa Bay Rays, who just completed their second sweep of the season over Boston to go three games up on the Red Sox in the AL East. It's great to see these young kids compete like this. I hope it lasts into the second half of the season!

When you consider our ridiculous payroll compared to that of our division rivals such as the Red Sox and Yankees, it really would have to be considered one of the most amazing runs in sports history if the team somehow landed in the playoffs, either as a division champ or the wildcard.

[Blue Hen]

Best story in sports. Who are those guys ?????????? A division title would be great......beating those zillionaires.

[AJBuckeye]

Agreed. They got to be the biggest underdog in all professional sports. They are a low profile team caught in the Mega Million war between the Yankees and Sox. They are the one team in baseball you can write off every year during spring training. I would love to see them pull this one off.

[GatorGrad]

I'm pretty sure that AROD alone makes close to what all of the players on the Rays make COMBINED. Does someone have the exact current MLB payrolls for the Rays compared to say the Yankees and Red Sox?

[Lincoln Tower]

2008 Team Payrolls
No. Team Payroll Average
1. New York Yankees $209,081,579 $6,744,567
2. Detroit Tigers $138,685,197 $4,622,840
3. New York Mets $138,293,378 $4,609,779
4. Boston Red Sox $133,440,037 $4,765,716
5. Chicago White Sox $121,152,667 $4,487,136
6. Los Angeles Angels $119,216,333 $4,110,908
7. Chicago Cubs $118,595,833 $4,392,438
8. Los Angeles Dodgers $118,536,038 $4,233,430
9. Seattle Mariners $117,993,982 $4,538,230
10. Atlanta Braves $102,424,018 $3,414,134
11. St. Louis Cardinals $100,624,450 $3,049,226
12. Toronto Blue Jays $98,641,957 $3,522,927
13. Philadelphia Phillies $98,269,881 $3,388,617
14. Houston Astros $88,930,415 $3,293,719
15. Milwaukee Brewers $81,004,167 $2,793,247
16. Cleveland Indians $78,970,067 $3,037,310
17. San Francisco Giants $76,904,500 $2,651,879
18. Cincinnati Reds $74,277,695 $2,971,108
19. San Diego Padres $73,677,617 $2,376,697
20. Colorado Rockies $68,655,500 $2,640,596
21. Texas Rangers $68,239,551 $2,353,088
22. Baltimore Orioles $67,196,248 $2,099,883
23. Arizona Diamondbacks $66,202,713 $2,364,383
24. Minnesota Twins $62,182,767 $2,487,311
25. Kansas City Royals $58,245,500 $2,240,212
26. Washington Nationals $54,961,000 $1,895,207
27. Pittsburgh Pirates $49,365,283 $1,898,665
28. Oakland Athletics $47,967,126 $1,713,112
29. Tampa Bay Rays $43,820,598 $1,460,687
30. Florida Marlins $21,836,500 $661,712

http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/salaries

[HellYeahHokie]

This isn't such a big deal. The Florida Marlins have won 2 world series rings with bottom-basement payrolls.

Then when they win, they auction off their stars to the highest bidders or just let them leave.

...because the fans matter.

[GatorGrad]

Hmmmm...looks like our payroll improved...used to be in the 20's...glad to see we're up into the 40's now. Good enough for 29th out of 30 teams!

[Blue Hen]

Based on his typical season, ARod's current contract equates to something like ....$ 42,000 per 'at bat'. Obscene.