Tampa Bays Rays Unfurl Banner For 2023 Wild Card Berth, Proving They Have A Pitiful Standard Of Excellence

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The Tampa Bay Rays clearly have a much lower standard of excellence than most teams in the MLB.

Before their Opening Day matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays, the team’s PA announcer asked for the fans to look towards the banner section of Tropicana Field. The team had planned to unfurl a banner celebrating their 2023 season.

Now if you remember how 2023 unfolded for the Rays, it wasn’t anything extraordinary. They didn’t win the division (the Baltimore Orioles shocked everyone by doing that). The Rays also didn’t take home the AL pennant or the World Series (both of which were won by the Texas Rangers). Tampa Bay did make it to the playoffs, but were swept in the Wild Card round by none other than the Rangers.

And that’s what they thought was worth celebrating.

To kick off the 2024 campaign, the Rays wanted to remind everyone that they only lasted a grand total of two days in the 2023 postseason. The best part? The fans at the game actually cheered in excitement!

The Rays Should Celebrate Something More Meaningful Than Wild Card Berths

According to the video, the Rays have done this for their other Wild Card berth as well, (2011, 2013, 2019, 2022). Call me a curmudgeon, but that doesn’t send a great message about your franchise.

If you take home a World Series title or are the last team standing in your league, those banners would be worth some real estate in the rafters. But a banner for five different wild card berths? By doing that, the Rays are basically saying they're happy with participation trophies.

ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 04: Evan Carter (32), Josh Jung (6), and the Texas Rangers swept the Rays in the 2023 Wild Card Round en route to a World Series title. (Photo by Bailey Orr/Texas Rangers/Getty Images)

Furthermore, these past two playoff runs were inglorious for the Rays. Over their two trips to October in 2022 and 2023, they have scored a total of two - count ‘em, two - runs in four total games. If I’m anyone in that franchise, I’m sure as heck not fondly recalling those memories, and therefore shouldn’t be looking for a banner to commemorate them.

Unfortunately for fans, the home team wasn’t done embarrassing themselves that evening. The Rays lost to the Blue Jays 8-2.

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John Simmons graduated from Liberty University hoping to become a sports journalist. He’s lived his dream while working for the Media Research Center and can’t wait to do more in this field with Outkick. He could bore you to death with his knowledge of professional ultimate frisbee, and his one life goal is to find Middle Earth and start a homestead in the Shire. He’s still working on how to make that happen.