After ending the regular season with the second best record in the league, the Tampa Bay Rays now look like a 
lackadaisical team on the brink of elimination. SLAP!
Manhandled by the Texas Rangers, the Rays and are just 9 innings away from an early exit, down two games to none in their ALDS. How ’bout we throw in a backhander too. . .SLAP!!
With their season suddenly on the brink and their fan base long gone; the Tampa Bay Rays are the recipients of the Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week.
How about a couple for their fans too, you know the ones who barely have the energy to jump on the bandwagon of a 96-win team that won the AL East title.
Truth be told, no one should have expected any different from this team… or this area.
The Rays went 5-5 in their last 10 regular season games and were 13-14 in the month of September. Needless to say, that’s not exactly the best way to carry momentum into the playoffs. And I’m sure the call for a ‘plaided out ballpark’ didn’t help either.
It’s one thing to ask your fans to ‘white out’ the stadium to intimidate your opponent, but it’s quite another to ask them to support their team by wearing plaid. That’s about the least intimidating pattern you can pick, besides polka dots.
But Joe Maddon and his plaid dreams aren’t the only ones at fault here; the Rays fans deserve some of the blame as well. Instead of rooting for their team and rallying behind home-field advantage, the Rays ‘fans’ were too busy making Kitty DJ videos (watch below), playing shuffleboard and following Dancing with the Stars.
As if it’s not humiliating enough for these players to call Tropicana Field home, they now don’t even have the support of their own city. Any hope of a bandwagon jump was derailed after the Rays got shut out on Thursday. And now that the Buccaneers have a winning record (2-1), there is no need for Tampa Bay fans to watch baseball anymore. And I completely understand.
Who honestly wants to watch a team that was on the losing end of two no-hitters this year, one of which being a perfect game? I don’t care what your record is, if that happens to you twice in one season, then your fate has already been determined.
And just so we’re all clear on this, throwing a no-hitter like Garza did does not cancel out being the victim of one.
The way I see it, the Rays only have two options in order make this post-season memorable. They can either A) Start hitting the ball and have an epic comeback or B) Wear plaid uniforms for the rest of the series and bunt during every at-bat. Other than that, there is really no hope for this team.
Personally, I would love to see option B run its course. I know it’s a long shot, but anything is possible when you believe.
Used with permission of the author.
Logan Rhoades is a Los Angeles-based writer and contributor to Sports Climax. With an extensive knowledge of ESPN topics and celebrity gossip, he is known for mixing sports and pop culture to entertain his readers. Check out his “Skip to My Logan” blog and Follow him on Twitter @loganrhoades.
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