The Yankees and the Rays Take Different Paths to Success
If you look at the two franchises of the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays, you really can’t see many similarities.
On the one hand, the Yankees are the most storied franchise in the history of baseball (and the richest). They have constantly driven themselves on that success. With a record 27 World Series Championships that may never be matched in this lifetime, they have everything it takes to keep the franchise rolling towards further and further triumphs.
The Rays, on the other hand, do not really have a famed history. In fact, in their short history they may want to forget a lot of it. There were some very ugly years when the Rays were the joke of the league and were always pushovers for the Yankees and Boston Red Sox to continue dominating the AL East. However, in all those years, the Rays kept getting better and better, through drafting the best talents and developing their team.
Right now, the Yankees and the Rays are the top two teams in baseball. Unfortunately for both of them, they have to play each other so often and winning the division may come down to luck in the end. Both are gunning to win the East. The Rays won it in 2008 and ended up making their first trip to the World Series before being beaten by the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Yankees won their first division title in three years last season, and went on to win the World Series, beating those same Phillies in the Fall Classic.
Now this year, they have the top two records in baseball, while dealing with the Red Sox and the competitive Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees lead the division, while the Rays lead the Wild Card race. Many would not be surprised if these two teams met in the playoffs for the first time in history. It would then be a true test of who is the better team.
The Yankees have built their team by using their infinite payroll in bringing in some of the league’s best players. They went into a little bit of a drought from a World Series; nine years, from 2000 to 2009. That may be a drought for the Yankees, but it would make many teams jealous.
Besides, in those nine years, the Yankees still managed to stay at the elite level in the league. They made it to the World Series in 2001 and 2003; they also made it to the ALCS in 2004 and won the AL East in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009. They remain the prominent powerhouses of the league.
The Rays are an upstart challenge for the Bronx Bombers. They have built a talented young team from the bottom up on a much reduced payroll from the Yankees. The franchise was patient in building their team and now they look to take the reins from the Yankees and begin to build their own dynasty.
The Rays are getting attention from around the league as they have proven their jump to the World Series in 2008 was no fluke.
“They're a little bit of a real interesting team. Their manager is not afraid to try anything, and I really respect that," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "He's doing with his team what he knows is best, and that's what you should do. They're really a combination of power and speed, and really some people think the best five-man rotation in baseball. They're good. They're loaded."
Despite that the Rays are still David and the Yankees are still Goliath, it doesn’t mean that the Rays are ready to hand over the division. They have their goals set high.
We've worked as hard as anybody, and it's something that we're pursuing. Part of our job is to win the division and to win the World Series," Rays utility man Ben Zobrist said. "That's our goal, and we're not going to lay down or anything, because the Yankees are playing great as well. We're going to keep fighting and hopefully overtake them and win the division."
Things would be really interesting if these are the last two teams standing in the American League come October.
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