Tampa Bay Takeover

Starting the 2011 season for the Tampa Bay Rays was a bright future for the baseball team. They had plenty of young talent such as Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, and B.J Upton, to go alongside a solid pitching staff. Looking to give powerhouse teams such as the Yankees and Red Sox a run for their money, the Rays were looking to return to October baseball once again. The season began and slowly but steadily, they marched through the schedule playing .500 ball.

After the All-Star break, the team was 5 games over .500, which would have been good enough in some divisions to be in the driver's seat, but the Rays were 10 and a half games out of first place. While many people began to give up hope for the team, The Rays didn’t quit. As of September 3rd, they were still 9 games out, the chances of the team making a late charge, and the Red Sox losing out were almost impossible. Although the Rays had a chance to change things around. They would play the team in their way, the Red Sox, 7 times in September, which could be crucial for the team to make the postseason. The Rays would knock the Sox out, winning 6 out of 7 games, which dramatically helped inch the Rays closer to the wild card.

By September 26, with two games left for the Rays, they were tied for the wild card with the Sox, an incredible feat, but they weren’t done yet. However, on the last day of the regular season year, the Rays needed help. They were a half game out of the wild card behind Boston, They needed Boston to lose and the Rays had to defeat the mighty Yankees to claim the wild card prize for playoff contention. 7:00 o’clock EST, rolled around, the Rays were ready. They had their ace, David Price ready to roll through Yankee batters. Unfortunately, Price was not on his game that day, and gave up 5 runs in a measly 5 innings of work. To double the mess, the Red Sox took an early lead against the Orioles. Rays hopes of making the playoffs were dead, in the 8th inning, the score was 7-0.

Many Rays fans left the stadium, knowing their team had lost. In the 8th inning, Something utterly impossible occurred, the Rays stormed back and thanks to crucial at bats to load the bases and an Evan Longoria 3 run homer to end the inning only down by a single run. Many fans jumped back and forth from the Rays game to the Red Sox. The Orioles also charged through and beat the Red Sox 3-2. The stadium was rocking, knowing all the Rays needed was a victory to lead the team to the postseason. In the bottom of the ninth, needing only a run, the first batter stepped in and promptly was sat down striking out. The next batter followed up with a strikeout as well. The last man standing was a pinch hitter by the name of Dan Johnson. Johnson had come to the team from the Japanese League as a knuckleball pitcher to try and join the Rays, but somehow, he made the roster as a DH and was here for this moment although Johnson had an ugly .108 batting average, he was depended on to get on base somehow to keep the line moving. With 1 strike away from ending it all on a 2-2 count, Johnson smacked a fly ball into the right corner of Tropicana Field, the ball flew into the lowest wall in right for a home run, tying the game at 7.

It was only his 2nd homer in the whole season for Dan Johnson. The game continued on until a 12th inning when Evan Longoria bopped a low flying homer over the left corner of the lowest wall in Tropicana Field to walk off the Yankees, and lead the Rays into their 3rd postseason berth. While they were eventually knocked out by the Texas Rangers in the ALDS, they proved to never say never when everyone thought they couldn’t make it.