Tampa Bay Rays' Miracle Season

This was a great season for the Tampa Bay Rays, filled with many firsts.

The team—led by manager Joe Madden and star player Carl Crawford—has made a lasting impression on the AL East and the entire MLB.

This is the first time that the Rays had gotten to the playoffs.  This was the first time they won first and the first time they didn't finish last.

They had an unbelievable season.

They signed Evan Longoria to a longer contract, and he proved he was worthy of it.  The young star had 122 hits in 448 at bats, which averaged out to a .272 batting average—the eighth highest on the team.  He also had 27 HRs, 85 RBI, and seven SBs.  His on base percentage was .343—11th on the team—and his slugging percentage of .531 was the highest.

They also acquired Cliff Floyd in the offseason.  He proved to be a great pick-up from the New York Mets.  He had great season stats this year, which helped the Rays.

He had 66 hits in 246 ABs in 80 games with the Rays.  He had an average of .286, which was ninth on the team.  He also had an OBP of .349 and an SLG percent of .455, which had a great effect on the Rays' batting.

The Rays had many momentum boosts throughout the season, from their first place run to their amazing home record.  These momentum boosts also included TWO series sweeps of Boston in Tropicana, and the fact that they were able to take a great number games in the division.

Before this season, they were never able to sell out a game until this year's ALDS.  This means that Rays fans are now starting to believe.

Now that they have made it past the ALDS, they now have to face Boston in the ALCS.

If you look at the regular season, Tampa Bay has the upper hand on Boston since they took a majority of the games.  Going by the postseason numbers, however, Boston has the upper hand.  Josh Beckett has pitched more innings in the postseason than all of the Rays pitchers combined.

Boston vs. Tampa Bay is the match-up that people were looking for in the ALCS.  This series is very promising and will have good action.

My prediction is that the Rays will come out on top because they have something to prove with this postseason.  They will use that boost while playing Boston.