Rays advance, so does that mean Tampa will become Titletown, USA?!
By John Buhler
The Tampa Bay Rays are so good, they might win the whole thing in 2020.
And just like that, the Tampa Bay Rays advance past the Toronto Blue Jays to the ALDS.
Even though Blake Snell is the only player on the Rays you can name, this team won the AL East and earned the No. 1 seed in the AL postseason. Despite their relative anonymity playing in obscurity, this is a damn good baseball team. With the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the Stanley Cup and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers being good, is Tampa about to be Titletown, USA?!
Tampa may win the Stanley Cup, the World Series and the Super Bowl…at home!
2020 is the weirdest year of our lives, so why not let a sleepy mid-market metropolis have league champions in the NHL, the MLB and the NFL? Even though everyone and their brothers are picking the New York Yankees to win the AL this year, guess who they’d be playing in the ALDS? The top-seeded Rays! Tampa Bay could totally win the AL pennant this year and get to the World Series.
Though beating strong teams in the NL like the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Atlanta Braves may be difficult, it’s not like those contending teams want to face Snell and the Rays either. So even if you don’t want to believe it, because we all know the Miami Marlins are going to win the World Series because they don’t lose postseason series, Tampa Bay might be the team to beat them.
Thus far, the Lightning took care of business up in Canada over the Dallas Stars. Let’s be real. You can only name one player on that ice hockey team, and his name is Steven Stamkos. Thankfully, we love the NFL in America, and the Buccaneers have a stacked roster with the likes of Tom Brady, Mike Evans and Rob Gronkowski. At 2-1, the Buccaneers lead the NFC South entering Week 4.
It would be an unbelievable parlay if the Lightning, the Rays and the Buccaneers were all reigning league champions. Don’t think for a second a Ray or a Buccaneer may go full-blown Florida Man and drop the league trophy into the bottom of a canal while on a boat. But let’s be real, when you are on a boat, you are at that moment living your best life, so God bless you and your soul, man.
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So can the Rays win the World Series? Absolutely, as they are the No. 1 seed in the AL and are used to playing in front of reduced capacity crowds. They might even be more likely to win the World Series than the Buccaneers are to win the Super Bowl. This is because the Buccaneers are only a top-10 team in the league and no team wins the Super Bowl in their home stadium.
So while Green Bay, Wisconsin and Valdosta, Georgia claim to be Titletown, it could be Tampa soon.