ALDS 2010: Recap Of ALDS and the Future Of the Rays Franchise

ALDS Recap

I'll make the recap short and sweet. Basically, the Rangers were given this series win by the umpires. I'm not a bitter fan at all, but it's funny people always talk about the little things in baseball. Do the little things right and you'll win. This series was defined by a bad call. A second bad call didn't help the matter. One little thing defined this series, and it was because of human error by someone that shouldn't have had as much impact on the series as they did. If the call was right, and Pena was given first base, that could have shifted everything, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. I don't care much for the Rangers, and they're a good team no doubt, but nobody will actually ever know if they deserve that ALCS spot against the Yankees. I might hit a Rangers fan's nerve, but it's the truth. I'm not saying the Rays deserve to be there more than the Rangers, but because of a bad call, we won't know who actually should be there.

Yes, the Rays did come back down 0-2, but nobody will ever know if they really had to in the first place. They put up a good fight, and I commend them for that. They threw away whatever happened in game 1 and 2, played their hearts out. Didn't turn out the way they wanted it to, but they should be proud of themselves. The worst thing about all this is probably not seeing the Rays/Yankees ALCS. That would have been an epic series. The Yankees always bring out the best in the Rays.

Shout out to Ben Zobrist. He played well the entire series. Shout out to James Shields for getting unlucky for the millionth time this season. It's a shame people will just look at the pitching line for that game and not know what actually went down. Most Rays fans will ignore it and blame Maddon for starting him.

I'm not going to argue with anyone about this recap and my thoughts on it.

The Future

So what's the future for the Rays? Yankee and Red Sox fans are probably happy about 2011. Supposedly, everyone thinks the Rays won't be contenders. So, will Crawford be back? Probably not, but anything can happen. Will Pena be back? That all depends on the front office. I think Pena would actually sign for less money just because he loves the Tampa Bay area. Will Soriano stick around? Who knows. Point is, there are going to be some different players on this team next year probably. Here are some things to look forward.

Pitching: This is not going anywhere. So all you Yankee and Red Sox fans, don't think the Rays will just go down to the cellar because CC will probably be gone. One player doesn't make a team. Soriano might be gone, and if he is, I guess the Rays will have to sign Benoit for a few more years to be the closer. Are you wondering who's going to be the 8th inning guy? I know who. JP Howell. Enough said on that.

Matt Garza might be traded, but I doubt it's going to be in the off season. Shields will still be around and hopefully he won't be so unlucky. For a guy that had a 3.46 ERA against the AL playoff teams, he sure did have horrible luck. Wade Davis hopefully sticks around along with Niemann. Price of course will be here next year. There's a good chance, one of these pitchers won't be around next year. My bet would be on Garza. Just a hunch, but that's okay. Jeremy Hellickson will be the guy to fill the role.

Hitting: Expect Zobrist to hit around .300. He was hitting .300 until around the all star break when he was having back problems. The guy can still hit. He's going to be around for another 6 years, and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he hit 20 homers next year. Longoria is another that will be around of course. Expect a lot of the young guys to get more playing time. I'm not sure if Bartlett will be around, but if he is, expect him to hit at least around his career average. He got really hot at the end of the season, and he's not a .250 guy. He's a .280 to .300 guy. Desmond Jennings will fill CC's spot if he doesn't come back. He didn't do so well when he got called up, but maybe it's just a first year kind of thing. Honestly, there are questions all around the board here with only Zorilla and Longo being the sure guys to be in the starting lineup every day.

Overall, it's been a good season, and the future looks bright for the Rays who will probably get even younger next year. A lot of questions will be answered sooner or later. No matter what happens, it's going to be exciting for the Rays. Now let's just hope more fans come out to the ballpark.