List of Tampa Bay Rays seasons

Last updated

The Rays have played in Tropicana Field since their inaugural season in 1998. Tropicana Field Playing Field Opening Day 2010.JPG
The Rays have played in Tropicana Field since their inaugural season in 1998.

The Tampa Bay Rays are a professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's (MLB) American League (AL). Since their inaugural season in 1998, the Rays have played their home games at Tropicana Field. [1] The team was originally known as the "Tampa Bay Devil Rays", which was inspired by a common nickname of the manta ray, but after the 2007 season, they shortened their official name to the "Tampa Bay Rays." [2]

Contents

Tampa Bay made their Major League debut in 1998, where they were an expansion team. [3] For their first ten seasons, Tampa Bay struggled, never had a winning record, and always finished fifth in the American League Eastern Division, except for a fourth-place finish in the 2004 season. Since 2008 however, the Rays have advanced to the postseason eight times and have played in the World Series twice, in 2008 and 2020. In 2021 the Rays achieved a 100-win regular season for the first time.

Table Key

ALDS
American League Division Series
ALCS
American League Championship Series
MVP
Most Valuable Player Award
CYA
Cy Young Award
ROY
Rookie of the Year Award
MOY
Manager of the Year Award
CB POY
Comeback Player of the Year Award
WS MVP
World Series Most Valuable Player Award

Regular season results

World Series champions †AL champions *Division champions ^Wild card berth ¤
SeasonLevel League Division Finish Wins Losses Win% GB Post-season Awards Manager
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
1998 MLB AL East 5th6399.38951 Larry Rothschild
1999 MLBALEast5th6993.42629
2000 MLBALEast5th6992.42918
2001 MLBALEast5th62100.38334 Larry Rothschild (4–10)
Hal McRae (58–90)
2002 MLBALEast5th55106.34248 Hal McRae
2003 MLBALEast5th6399.38938 Lou Piniella
2004 MLBALEast4th7091.43530½
2005 MLBALEast5th6795.41428
2006 MLBALEast5th61101.37736 Joe Maddon
2007 MLBALEast5th6696.40730 Carlos Peña (CB POY) [4]
Tampa Bay Rays
2008 MLBAL *East ^1st9765.599Won ALDS (White Sox) 3–1
Won ALCS (Red Sox) 4–3
Lost World Series (Phillies) 4–1 *
Evan Longoria (ROY) [5]
Joe Maddon (MOY) [6]
Joe Maddon
2009 MLBALEast3rd8478.51919
2010 MLBALEast ^1st9666.593Lost ALDS (Rangers) 3–2
2011 MLBALEast2nd ¤9171.5626Lost ALDS (Rangers) 3–1 Jeremy Hellickson (ROY) [5]
Joe Maddon (MOY) [6]
2012 MLBALEast3rd9072.5565 David Price (CYA) [7]
Fernando Rodney (CB POY) [8]
2013 MLBALEast2nd ¤9271.564Won ALWC (Indians)
Lost ALDS (Red Sox) 3–1
Wil Myers (ROY) [5]
2014 MLBALEast4th7785.47519
2015 MLBALEast4th8082.49413 Kevin Cash
2016 MLBALEast5th6894.42025
2017 MLBALEast3rd8082.49413
2018 MLBALEast3rd9072.55618 Blake Snell (CYA) [7]
2019 MLBALEast2nd ¤9666.5937Won ALWC (Athletics)
Lost ALDS (Astros) 3–2
2020 MLBAL *East ^1st4020.667Won ALWC (Blue Jays) 2–0
Won ALDS (Yankees) 3–2
Won ALCS (Astros) 4–3
Lost World Series (Dodgers) 4–2 *
Kevin Cash (MOY) [6]
2021 MLBALEast ^1st10062.617Lost ALDS (Red Sox) 3–1 Randy Arozarena (ROY) [5]
Kevin Cash (MOY) [6]
2022 MLBALEast3rd ¤8676.53113Lost ALWC (Guardians) 2–0
2023 MLBALEast2nd ¤9963.6112Lost ALWC (Rangers) 2–0
2024 MLBALEast4th8082.49414
2025 MLBALEast4th7785.47517
TotalsWinsLossesWin%
2,0912,179.490All-time regular season record (1998–2024)
2836.438All-time postseason record
2,1192,215.489All-time regular and postseason record

Record by decade

The following table describes the Rays' MLB win–loss record by decade.

DecadeWinsLossesPct
1990s132192.407
2000s694923.429
2010s860761.531
2020s405303.572
All-time2,0912,179.490

These statistics are from Baseball-Reference.com's Tampa Bay Rays History & Encyclopedia, [9] and are current through the 2024 regular season.

Postseason appearances

Year Wild Card Game/Series LDS LCS World Series
2008 None (Won AL East) Chicago White Sox W (3–1) Boston Red Sox W (4–3) Philadelphia Phillies L (1–4)
2010 None (Won AL East) Texas Rangers L (2–3)
2011 None (Won AL Wild Card) Texas Rangers L (1–3)
2013 Cleveland Indians W Boston Red Sox L (1–3)
2019 Oakland Athletics W Houston Astros L (2–3)
2020 Toronto Blue Jays W (2–0) New York Yankees W (3–2) Houston Astros W (4–3) Los Angeles Dodgers L (2–4)
2021 None (Won AL East) Boston Red Sox L (1–3)
2022 Cleveland Guardians L (0–2)
2023 Texas Rangers L (0–2)

Post-season record by year

The Rays have made the postseason nine times in their history, with their first being in 2008 and the most recent being in 2023.

YearFinishRoundOpponentResult
2008 American League Champions ALDS Chicago White Sox Won31
ALCS Boston Red Sox Won43
World Series Philadelphia Phillies Lost14
2010 AL East Champions ALDS Texas Rangers Lost23
2011 AL Wild Card ALDS Texas Rangers Lost13
2013 AL Wild Card Champions ALWC Cleveland Indians Won10
ALDS Boston Red Sox Lost13
2019 AL Wild Card Champions ALWC Oakland Athletics Won10
ALDS Houston Astros Lost23
2020 American League Champions ALWC Toronto Blue Jays Won20
ALDS New York Yankees Won32
ALCS Houston Astros Won43
World Series Los Angeles Dodgers Lost24
2021 AL East Champions ALDS Boston Red Sox Lost13
2022 AL Wild Card ALWC Cleveland Guardians Lost02
2023 AL Wild Card ALWC Texas Rangers Lost02
9Totals7–92836

See also

References

  1. "Tropicana Field". MLB.com . Archived from the original on November 9, 2007. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
  2. "Time to shine: Rays introduce new name, new icon, new team colors and new uniforms". MLB.com. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
  3. "Rays Timeline 1995–1996". MLB.com. Archived from the original on June 19, 2009. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
  4. Bill Chastain (October 26, 2007). "Pena honored as AL comeback player". MLB.com. Retrieved October 7, 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Rookie of the Year Award Winners". Baseball-Reference.com. November 10, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Manager of the Year Award Winners". Baseball-Reference.com. November 12, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  7. 1 2 "Most Valuable Player MVP Awards & Cy Young Awards Winners". Baseball-Reference.com. November 14, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
  8. Bill Chastain (October 19, 2012). "Rodney is Comeback, Delivery Man awards winner". MLB.com. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  9. "Tampa Bay Rays History & Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 30, 2018.