KC Royals in the World Series: 2008 Tampa Bay Rays Give the Royals Hope

First and foremost, before I get into the article itself, I would like to give my loyal readers two free gifts:

1. Courtesy of Jason Bartlett's fifth-inning steal, every person in the U.S. is entitled to a free taco at Taco Bell on Oct. 28 between 2-6 PM local time.

2. Dr. Pepper is making good on a prior promise to provide every person in America a bottle of the soft drink if the album arrived in 2008. "We never thought this day would come," says Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us." Interested fans are being asked to visit Dr. Pepper.com on Nov. 23, the day Chinese Democracy is released in the U.S. After registering, fans will receive a coupon redeemable for a 20-ounce Dr Pepper. The catch: The coupon is available for only 24 hours and will expire Feb. 28.

So there you go, a free Taco and Dr. Pepper—just for reading my article! (OK, not exactly true...but how many of you knew about these two free offers before?)

As a Royals fan, year after year, I sit through the winter months wondering what the Royals will or even can do to break the chains of the basement of the American League Central Division.

There is much conjecture and bantering back and forth between fans and armchair GMs, about how they should pick up this free agent or trade that guy, but the reality is that in a small market such as Kansas City, it is nearly impossible to build the type of winning franchise that the Royals enjoyed between 1980-1986.

Or is it?

The Ray of hope lies in the Tampa Bay Rays. For the record, they will always be the Devil Rays to me, but I'll call them by their new name to show some respect to the "worst to first" small market 2008 American League Champions.

In 2007, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (as they were known back before they knew what a winning record looked like) finished dead last in the American League East, scraping together a meager 66-96 record. The 2008 Rays finished at a staggering 97-65.

By comparison, the 2008 Kansas City Royals just missed the A.L. Central cellar for the first time in years by one game, finished with a slightly more respectable 75-87 record. But let's be honest, without that spectacular September, the Royals would have been sweeping the basement again.

The Rays put together a 31-game improvement in their record. That is mind-boggling. How can the Royals look to mirror the success of the Rays? They only need to put together a 15-game improvement to jump to the top of the American League Central. Doable? Eh, maybe.

With the Rays, this movement started a few years ago from the top down, with the change in managing partners and the injection of Joe Madden. The Rays decided they were to going to hold on to their homegrown talent and pay it well.

Example: Evan Longoria was touted as the next Ray third basemen coming into 2008, but no one was really sure if he was ready. He started the season in the minors but was quickly brought up in the second week of the season after an injury. A week later, the Rays signed him to a sweet six-year deal.

And much like Scott Kazmir, BJ Upton and Rocco Baldelli before him Evan Longoria isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Lesson No. 1 for the Royals

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