The History of the Tampa Bay Rays: Every Era, from the First Season to Today
A history of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Rays in five eras, from the 1998 expansion season through the 2008 pennant, the Maddon and Cash years and the displacement from Tropicana Field in 2025.
The Tampa Bay Rays are the youngest club in the American League East and the one that has done the most with the least. Through the 2025 season the franchise has played 28 years, won 2,168 games and lost 2,264, a winning percentage of .489. That is close to a break-even record for a club that lost 99 games in its first season, spent most of its life with one of the smaller payrolls in the sport, and plays in a division with the Yankees and the Red Sox. In that time it has won two American League pennants, four division titles and made the postseason in nine different years.
The story divides into five eras. In the first, a new club lost a great deal. In the second, a front office and a manager rebuilt it around young players, a new name and a new attitude. In the third, the club became a regular playoff team without ever winning a World Series. In the fourth, a new manager and a deep pitching and player-development system produced the best regular season in club history. In the fifth, a hurricane took away the ballpark.
You can follow the club on the Rays team page, read the Tropicana Field guide for the home park, or browse the Rays topic page. Every figure in this history comes from the historical record, through the 2025 season.
Expansion and the Devil Rays years, 1998 to 2007
The club was awarded a franchise in the 1990s and began play in 1998 as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, one of two expansion teams that entered the major leagues that year. Its home was the domed stadium in St. Petersburg that now carries the name Tropicana Field. It had been built years earlier, before the club existed, in the hope of attracting a team. The Devil Rays were the first major-league club to play in the Tampa Bay area, and the building was a city's investment that the franchise had to grow into.
The first team won 63 games and lost 99, the same record as the 2003 team. Larry Rothschild managed the club from 1998 through 2001 with a 203-293 record. Attendance, curiously, was the best in the club's history in its first year: 2,506,293 fans came to Tropicana Field in 1998, a figure the franchise never matched again. After the novelty wore off, the crowds fell sharply, and the problem of attendance became a feature of the franchise for decades.
The veterans of that period were mostly established players winding down their careers. Fred McGriff, who would reach the Hall of Fame later as a result of a committee vote, spent five seasons with the club and drew 305 walks. Roberto Hernandez saved 101 games from 1998 through 2000, which is still the most for the franchise, ahead of Alex Colome with 95 and Pete Fairbanks with 90. Wade Boggs collected his 3,000th hit in a Devil Rays uniform in 1999, a milestone that is still the club's best-known moment of that period.
The losing was relentless. The worst season came in 2002, when the club won 55 and lost 106. Other poor years included 2001 (62-100), 2003 (63-99) and 2006 (61-101). Hal McRae managed 309 games in 2001 and 2002 and won 113 of them, and Lou Piniella, who managed the club from 2003 through 2005 with a 200-285 record, did not turn it around either. The best pieces of that era were drafted or acquired rather than bought. Carl Crawford debuted in 2002 and would steal 409 bases for the franchise, the all-time record. Scott Kazmir pitched for the club from 2004 and won 55 games. B. J. Upton, Aubrey Huff and Julio Lugo all played significant roles.
Changing the name and the club, 2006 to 2008
Two events at the end of the Devil Rays years changed the franchise. The first was a change of ownership: Stuart Sternberg bought the club in 2005 and installed a front office led by Andrew Friedman, who ran baseball operations. The second was a change of manager. Joe Maddon took over in 2006 and stayed through 2014, and his 754-705 record over 1,459 games is the second most games of any Rays manager, behind only Kevin Cash.
The front office followed a plan that was unusual at the time. It relied heavily on defensive positioning, platoons and the ability to trade players before they became expensive. It also built the pitching staff from the draft. David Price, James Shields, Matt Garza and Jeff Niemann were all on the staff in 2008, and Shields and Price rank first and second in club history in wins, with Shields at 87 and Price at 82, along with the club's best career earned run average for pitchers with 1,000 innings, Price's 3.18.
The club also changed its name. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were renamed the Tampa Bay Rays for 2008, a change that dropped the word Devil and shifted the colors. The new identity coincided with the best season the club had yet had. It won 97 games and lost 65 and won the American League East, the first postseason appearance in franchise history. Evan Longoria, who won the Rookie of the Year award in 2008, would become the club's career leader in home runs (261), runs batted in (892), runs scored (780) and walks (569). He arrived in the major leagues in April of 2008, and he is the best argument that the Rays' approach of building from within works.
The 2008 pennant
The 2008 postseason is the high point of the franchise's first quarter century. The Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1 in the division series. They then faced the Boston Red Sox, the defending world champions, in the American League Championship Series, which went the full seven games, and Tampa Bay won 4-3. That series included one of the best comebacks in postseason history: the Rays trailed Boston 7-0 in Game 5 and won, and went on to win the series after trailing three games to one.
The World Series, against the Philadelphia Phillies, went the other way. The Phillies won 4-1. The Rays had reached the final round in their eleventh season, and they had done it with a payroll that was a fraction of what the Yankees and Red Sox paid. The loss was part of a pattern. The Rays have been to the World Series twice, in 2008 and 2020, and have lost both.
The Maddon years as a contender, 2009 to 2014
After 2008 the club stayed good. It won 96 games and the division in 2010, and then lost the division series to the Texas Rangers 3-2. In 2011 it earned the wild card on the final day of the regular season in one of the most remembered nights in the sport: Evan Longoria hit the home run that beat the Yankees, and the Red Sox, who had led the race for most of September, lost the same night. The Rays lost the division series to Texas 3-1.
The 2013 team won 92 and lost 71 and finished second, then won the one-game wild-card playoff against Cleveland and lost the division series to Boston, 3-1. During those years, the club produced three further Rookie of the Year winners beyond Longoria: Jeremy Hellickson in 2011, Wil Myers in 2013 and later Randy Arozarena in 2021. Myers came from Kansas City in the trade that sent Shields to the Royals, an example of the club turning a pitcher near free agency into a young hitter. David Price won the Cy Young Award in 2012.
The era also had bad years. Price was traded during the 2014 season, and Maddon left the club when it ended, so the stretch that followed was a time of change. The attendance remained a problem even in good years, and the club frequently ranked at or near the bottom of the American League in crowds.
The Cash years, 2015 to 2025
Kevin Cash became the manager in 2015, and through 2025 his 896-783 record over 1,679 games is the most games and wins of any Rays manager. His teams did two things well. They developed pitchers at an extraordinary rate, and they used them in ways that treated the starter as the first of several arms rather than as a workhorse. Blake Snell won the Cy Young Award in 2018, the club's second after Price. Tyler Glasnow, Chris Archer, Pete Fairbanks and Jake Odorizzi all moved through the same system.
The wins arrived in clusters. The 2019 team won 96 and lost 66, finished second in the East and won the wild-card game against Oakland, then lost the division series to Houston 3-2. In 2020, the season shortened to 60 games by the pandemic, the Rays won the division, beat Toronto 2-0 in the first round, beat the Yankees 3-2 in the division series and beat the Astros 4-3 in the American League Championship Series, after leading that series 3-0 and then watching Houston tie it at 3-3. In the World Series they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2.
The 2021 team was the best the franchise has produced. It won 100 games and lost 62, the best winning percentage in club history, and took the East, but lost the division series to Boston 3-1. The 2022 club went 86-76 and lost the wild-card round to Cleveland 2-0. In 2023 the Rays won 99 and lost 63, started 13 and 0, and still lost the wild-card round to Texas 2-0. Both ended in two games, which is a reminder of how little a short series proves about a 162-game season.
The best players of the Cash years are in the sheet. Brandon Lowe has 157 home runs for the club and Yandy Diaz 99, and Diaz's .291 average is second only to Crawford's .296 among Rays with at least 3,000 at-bats. Randy Arozarena's 94 stolen bases rank sixth in the club. Kevin Kiermaier's 756 hits and 112 steals, and his defense in center field, were a steady part of the club's identity.
Losing the ballpark, 2024 and 2025
The 2024 season ended with a storm. Hurricane Milton damaged Tropicana Field in October of that year, including its roof. The club played its 2025 home schedule at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring-training and minor-league home of the Yankees' organization, whose capacity is far smaller. The best attendance for the 2025 season at that field was 786,750.
The future of the franchise's home is outside the scope of the historical record, and it changes. Readers who want to know where the club is playing should check the official MLB site or the team page. The sheet's reference data lists a capacity of 25,025 for Tropicana Field with a fixed roof and artificial turf, which made it one of the most unusual parks in the sport.
How a small-budget club keeps winning
The Rays' method is easier to describe than to copy. Start with the draft and the trade market: a club that cannot outbid the Yankees for a free agent has to find its stars before they are expensive, and the lists above show how often it did. Price, Longoria, Snell and Hellickson were all produced or acquired by the club in their early years, and most of the franchise's best seasons came when several of them were in the lineup or rotation at once.
Then comes the willingness to let players go. A pitcher approaching free agency becomes a trade chip, and the return is usually several younger players, not a single star. That is why the career-leader lists are so diffuse. In most clubs a handful of names dominate every column; here Longoria leads four batting categories and Crawford three, and the pitching lists are led by men who each spent six or seven years with the club at most.
Finally there is the use of the roster. Under Maddon and then Cash the club moved fielders according to the batter, platooned hitters against pitchers of the opposite hand, and treated the bullpen as a set of specialists. Those habits did not stay secret, and other clubs adopted many of them, which is one reason the edge narrowed after 2021. The real lesson is that the Rays win by making many small decisions slightly better than their rivals do, not by any single trick.
The franchise in numbers
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Seasons | 28 (1998 to 2025) |
| Record | 2,168-2,264 (.489) |
| Pennants | 2008, 2020 |
| Division titles | 2008, 2010, 2020, 2021 |
| Wild-card berths | 2011, 2013, 2019, 2022, 2023 |
| Best record | 100-62 in 2021 |
| Worst record | 55-106 in 2002 |
| Postseason series | 7 won, 9 lost |
The career leaders tell the story of a franchise that kept its players for the prime years and then let them go. Longoria leads in home runs, runs batted in, runs and walks, and Crawford in hits (1,480) and stolen bases. On the mound the leaders are Shields (87 wins), Price (82) and Archer (1,167 strikeouts, second to Shields's 1,250). Of the franchise's leaders, a number were traded or left before their contracts expired, which is how the club has stayed competitive on a small budget.
Common questions
Have the Rays ever won the World Series? No. They have reached it twice, in 2008 against the Phillies and in 2020 against the Dodgers, and lost both.
Why did the Devil Rays change their name? The club dropped Devil for the 2008 season, becoming the Tampa Bay Rays. The change coincided with a new look and with the club's first winning season.
Who is the best Ray of all time? Evan Longoria has the strongest case on the sheet, with the club's best totals in home runs, runs batted in, runs scored and walks. Price and Crawford are the other two names that belong in the conversation. The all-time greats article takes that debate position by position.
What was the best season? The 2021 team had the best record at 100-62, but the 2008 team won the pennant and the 2020 team also reached the World Series.
Where do the Rays play? Through 2024 they played at Tropicana Field. In 2025 they played at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Check the club's official site for the current home.
Where to go next
For the postseason detail, read the best Rays seasons and every October run. To see how the Rays' division rivals compare, read the histories of the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. The Rays' two World Series losses fit into the longer story told in the history of the World Series.