Rays Now 9-0

When I posted that the Rays had gotten to 5-0, I promised myself not to get too excited, to make too much of it that they were the last remaining undefeated team. I decided I’d post about them again if they stayed undefeated through their third series…well, they are.

It is still wise to not go overboard here, though. They are 9-0, the first team in 20 years to do that. The Rays were still the downtrodden Devil Rays then. However, it’s against 3 teams that are all expected to finish last in their respective divisions. Good teams should beat bad teams.

More impressive is that they have thoroughly demolished their opponents. They have not only won every game, but every one has been by at least four runs. The last two against the A’s were 11-0 pastings. The last major league team to start a season at least 9-0, winning all by at least 4 runs, was the 1884 St Louis Maroons. The Maroons played in the Union Association that year. Teams folded during the season. The league itself folded after the season, with the only team to ever play again being the Maroons, who then joined the NL. 1884 was also the first season pitchers pitched overhand. The Maroons continued their streak through 13 games and overall won 22 straight that year.

The last team to have a streak this long, again all by at least four runs, at any point in a season was the 1939 Yankees, which won 10 straight. They also won the World Series in a sweep. 1939 was also the season of Lou Gehrig’s famous “Luckiest Man in the World” speech, on July 4.

Anyway, congrats to the Rays. 9-0 is 9-0, and nobody else can claim to have done it in a long time.