Dear Bud,
Please help the Rays. They have held up their end of the deal, fielding a competitive team for now four years in a row, reaching the playoffs three of those years. Speaking from someone who played for the Devil Rays when we were terrible, their current situation is just not fair. I see plenty of seats available in an elimination game vs the Rangers.
When I was a member of the Devil Rays it was excusable that we would have 8,000 people at a game during the regular season. Now it happens and this is one of the most exciting teams in the whole major leagues. They are drawing on a good day 18,000, people. That's a Yankees series on a weekend.
There are a lot of things you could do to help this team out. Moving is an option. Possible places are Charlotte, Nashville, Brooklyn, or maybe New Jersey. How about moving the team to downtown Tampa? St.Petersburg is just not a great place for a Major League Baseball team. The whole atmosphere of the Trop is just not the same as other Major League ballparks.
All this you know, I am not saying anything new. I am just saying it. Help this group out. They have done there part fielding a good competitive team.
Sincerely,
Seth
Wild wild card
Speaking of competitive, the wild card was put in place so that more teams could reach the playoffs, and to make baseball more exciting and profitable. The reason behind the reason was to almost assure that the Red Sox and Yankees would both reach the postseason, giving MLB higher ratings, thus more money. The Rays have jacked this system up by making the playoffs three out of the last four years. The latest installment of the one game wild card playoff is just another way to get the Red Sox and the Yankees in. All of this because of a little team down is St. Petersburg.
Seth McClung pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers from 2007-2009, but broke into the Major Leagues with Tampa Bay in 2003. The West Virginia native is now a pitcher in Taiwan.
McClung, a popular player during his time in Milwaukee, remains connected to Brewers fans through this blog on OnMilwaukee.com.
"Big Red" will cover baseball in a way only a player can, but he'll talk about other sports, too. The 6 foot, 6 inch flamethrower will write about life outside the game, too.
