Tampa Bay Rays’ fans are taking a lot of criticism for the lowest attendance at an MLB playoff game in more than 100 years. We’ve covered this issue here at 1 Scaianalysis Esplanade, suggesting the fans should not be blamed for not supporting a poorly managed club.
Much like the 1994 World Champion Montreal Expos, they play in an uninviting stadium in a distant part of town with an ownership group that would not invest to make the team better.
But #ScaiaBlog is about hope. Not hope for Tampa, mind you, but hope for Arlington, Texas. The Rays made it to the playoffs this year and hosted the Texas Rangers in the first round.
The Rangers wouldn’t get to host a game in the first round, so they set up watch parties next to the ballpark.
I arrived to shove my microphone in fans’ faces, and we started reminiscing about the good times. We now live in an era where 2011 is the “olden days.”
A Facebook memory taunted me of the Good ‘Ol Days this week, too. In a tragedy of sadness, the year after winning those two pennants, the Rangers lost in the first round, so I did have to cover real news in October 2012 instead of attending playoff baseball games for free in the interest of journalism.
But now Jon Daniels works for Tampa, so fans felt happier to see his team exit the playoffs this time around. They talked about how quickly changes in the front office led to changes on the field.
After losing 94 games last year and 102 in 2021, fans are also glad to see the Good Ol’ Days’ Ian Kinsler coming back and setting up shop in the front office.
The Texas Rangers are embracing history themselves. Game One was Tuesday, the day after the anniversary of the Battle of Gonzales, where the “Come and Take It” flag was born. In this case, the Rangers just had to go and get it.
The Texas Rangers’ success takes us back to a simpler time before we argued about pronouns and before we had to worry about whether the computer machines were going to rise up to take back what’s theirs.
No matter how this season ends for the Rangers, they’ve given fans hope that they’re built for long-term success.
The Tampa Bay Rays have hope, too, with their new stadium.
Most importantly, my role as a Montreal Expos fan is getting serious.
