Dreadful. Abysmal. Pathetic.
Pick a negative adjective, Tampa Bay Rays. At this point they all fit.
The Rays enter this afternoon’s road game against the Chicago White Sox with one measly win over the span of nine games. And that win required an unlikely six-run eighth inning on Opening Day against the Boston Red Sox.
The eight-game losing streak is already three games longer than any drought last year’s team experienced all season. And there are 153 more games left in 2018.
Yikes.
But if you’re going to fail, might as well do it spectacularly.
The Rays were nice enough to let the Red Sox have a six-run eighth inning of their own Sunday afternoon in Boston, turning a comfy 7-2 lead into a miserable 8-7 defeat.
That loss matched what the 2011 team did in terms of futility to start a season. Now it’s franchise-record time in the Windy City. A Monday setback would put the Rays at 1-9 overall and represent the worst first 10 games ever. The 2011 team won Game 10 in Boston 16-5 to improve to 2-8 and rattled off four more consecutive victories.
As difficult as it’s been to watch this year, the 2011 squad actually offers a silver lining. Despite a 1-8 start that began with six straight Ls, those Joe Maddon-led Rays finished the year 91-71. They qualified for the playoffs on the last night of the regular season with one of the franchise’s most iconic moments – Evan Longoria’s walk-off, 12th-inning home run to left.
Maybe that’s not enough to convince Rays fans of much at the moment. The 2011 team was coming off a playoff appearance in 2010 and three years removed from reaching the World Series.
But remember what that magical Game 162 included? A game-saving, six-run eighth inning.
Coincidence???
Probably. Definitely. But even the faintest glimmer of hope is better than nothing at this point.
