BOSTON (AP) -The Tampa Bay Rays played their first 10 openers with low expectations, and for good reason: They lost early and often in their first decade in the majors, never finishing better than next-to-last or even approaching a winning record.
When the Rays line up along the third-base line at Fenway Park for the traditional opening day introductions on Monday, though, they’ll do so as the defending AL East champions and not the laughingstocks who finished an average of 34 games out of first place before winning their first pennant in 2008.
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It will be the just the second time since 1996 that the season opens at home for the Red Sox, who traveled to Tokyo last year and had a 3-4 record by the time they got to Fenway. But it was worth the wait: For the second time in four years, the team had a pregame ceremony to hand out its World Series rings and raise a championship banner over center field.
There will be no such ceremony on Monday for the AL wild-card winners, who beat the Los Angeles Angels in the first round of the playoffs and then lost to the Rays in seven games. After earning its first AL pennant, Tampa Bay lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.
Red Sox pitcher John Smoltz, who was on the Atlanta Braves in 1991, when they went to the World Series a year after finishing in last place with a 65-97 record, said Tampa Bay showed last year “it was the real deal.”
“It’s rare that you have a club go from where they were to where they’re an elite club,” said Smoltz, who spent his first 20 years in Atlanta before coming to the AL as a free agent. “In this division and this league, that’s going to be harder to do.”
Although Smoltz will start the season on the disabled list to recover from right shoulder surgery, he’s looking forward to the traditional introductions and his first taste of playing for the Red Sox.
“I’m sure this opening day is going to be different than years past,” he said. “Right now my head is swimming so fast. I’ve got so many things to learn and do. Hopefully they’re 12-15 games up by the time I come back.”
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