Rays on a Roll!

What is up with the Tampa Bay Rays?

The south Florida baseball team that has never won more than 60 games in a 162-game season since it joined the league in 1998 is suddenly just one game behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League East division.

The Rays started this year as one of change. They started by changing their name from the Devil Rays to just “Rays”. The team’s colors are different too; their now blue and gold over the old purple, teal and black from the team’s first decade.

But the real change seems to be in the team’s leaders, like closer Troy Percival, a veteran right-hander who has made 18 saves to turn the Rays bullpen—once considered one the worst—into one of the best in the league.

Troy, who is 39, is not only a skilled slinger, but he is also seen as a dose of maturity for a young team with many new players from the draft. He’s seen as the guy who settles clubhouse spats calmly as well as guiding his team through the ropes of the big leagues.

What do you think is helping the Rays? Is the team better skilled this year or are its greatest players lifting players up to the talent they’ve always had?