Your Tampa Bay Rays whupped the Boston Red Sox 9-3 last evening, and now only the St. Louis Maroons stand between them and immortality. They're 13-0 to start the season, and only the Maroons did it better in the entire history of baseball.
The Maroons once started a season 20-0, see. Way back in 1884, as a matter of fact, when Chester Arthur was president and the Maroons played in something called the Union Association.
The Union Association was comprised of 12 teams and lasted just that one season. St. Louis won the league title and then joined the National League -- which had a guy named Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn, who, in that same year of 1884, pitched for the Providence Grays and started 72 games (some say 73) and won 59 of them (some say 60).
"Borrrr-ing," you're saying now. "Enough history. What about the Rays?"
Well, they're pretty darn good, obviously. But the Blob wouldn't be the Blob if it didn't drop a shower or two on the parade.
A 13-0 start is an achievement by any measure, but the Rays have gotten some help from the schedule-makers. Those 13 wins, after all, have come against the oops-I-stepped-in-something Oakland Athletics, the what's-that-smell Detroit Tigers, the swing-and-a-miss Washington Nationals and the oh-god-we're-gonna-suck-again Boston Red Sox.
All four of those teams are in last place in their respective divisions. Their combined record as of this morning: 15-36.
So it's not like the Rays have been doing this against the 1927 Yankees. Or even the 2023 Yankees.
On the other hand, no one else has started 13-0 since the Milwaukee Brewers did it 36 years ago. And it's a pretty safe bet a number of teams have been as similarly blessed as the Rays in all that time.
So hail to these Rays of sunshine. Or Rays of something.
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