The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Baseball - World Series: Tampa Bay Rays: Of all things!

2020-10-20T17:30:56.609Z


In economy mode, but thanks to astute analysts and commitments, the Tampa Bay Rays are playing for the championship title in US baseball. The underdog is therefore not popular - even its own fans have a hard time.


Icon: enlarge

The Tampa Bay Rays face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs

Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images

In US baseball, the first final match of the World Series takes place on Wednesday night (2 a.m. / Stream: DAZN).

But there is another topic at the center of the current baseball debates: Billy Beane could step down from the executive board of Oakland Athletics.

It would be the end of a story that made it to Hollywood.

"Moneyball" is the name of the 2011 film in which actor Brad Pitt played William Lamar "Billy" Beane III.

embodied.

It's about a Beane-led team of baseball nerds at the Oakland A's who put their roster together very differently from everyone else.

Suddenly, statistics are important that practically no one even knew existed or what they say.

The questions of who can help the team best or who has special qualities for certain moments were now more essential than the question of who had beaten how many home runs in the past.

Suddenly not only the most expensive players were the most valuable for the team, but also cheap ones.

This player analysis in baseball is called Sabermetrics.

Icon: enlarge

The face of the revolution: Billy Beane

Photo: Michael Zagaris / Getty Images

It was a small revolution in sport, initiated by Beane, who may now withdraw entirely from baseball, which he has so changed.

Most recently, the "Wall Street Journal" said that he should become a business partner of John Henry, a multi-billionaire and owner of the traditional baseball club Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC.

And, it is said, more football clubs in Europe are to be added.

For this job, he wanted to bring Beane into his team.

Two Dogers players are as expensive as the entire Tampa roster

Bene's approach has now established itself in Major League Baseball (MLB), many clubs use it - and with the Tampa Bay Rays, a team composed according to this pattern has now reached the World Series for the first time.

While Beanes A's always played successfully in the main round, but always failed early in the playoffs, Tampa is now reaching for the title against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Manager Erik Neander and his employees are doing a similar scientific job on Florida's Gulf Coast as Beane did in Oakland.

The team is smart and, above all, well put together.

"The Rays focus on what a player can do and not what he can not," says "ESPN".

The team was put together in such a way that the players complement each other in their strengths.

That, so the conclusion, would make "a damn good baseball team".

Icon: enlarge

Among the top earners at Tampa Bay: Aaron Loup ($ 1.65 million annual salary)

Photo: JOHN G MABANGLO / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

And that is what manager Neander and trainer Kevin Cash have now put together.

The club has the fourth smallest budget ($ 28.6 million) in the league;

and yet in the playoffs first beat the league croesus New York Yankees (113.9 million US dollars) and then with the Houston Astros (81.4 million US dollars) the number five on the money list.

Now it comes to the duel with the Dodgers (105.5 million US dollars).

Their pitcher Clayton Kershaw (31 million US dollars) and outfielder Mookie Betts (32 million US dollars) are each more expensive with their annual salaries than the entire Tampa team.

The fans have a hard time with the Tampa team

But anyone who thinks that the Rays' success story is only so popular with them is wrong.

It would be easy to keep your fingers crossed for them, writes the Boston Globe - "but they're bad for baseball".

Sport has a spectator problem.

The game is too long and often too lengthy.

And now a team is playing for the title whose players hardly anyone outside of Tampa knows.

"We're not the most popular team and we don't have many well-known players," said outfielder Kevin Kiermaier.

At least rookie Randy Arozarena caused a sensation in the playoffs and beat most of the home runs (seven).

But in order to be better rewarded, he will have to leave Tampa.

Icon: enlarge

Made eight Major League Baseball All-Star Game: Dodgers pitcher superstar Clayton Kershaw

Photo: Keith Birmingham / imago images / ZUMA Wire

The club will continue to watch out for every dollar going forward.

If you are too expensive, you have to go, the Rays always find a cheaper replacement.

There are only five players left from the 2017 team.

But the high fluctuation may make it difficult to identify with the team: Tampa has been seeing a decline in viewers for years.

Last season, despite 96 wins, an average of only 14,552 fans came to the home games - the league average was 28,317 - twice as high.

Scoffers claim that the Rays are only so good this season, when only a few spectators are allowed in the arenas due to Covid-19, because they are used to games in front of a small audience.

But if they win the title, they wouldn't care.

Icon: The mirror

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2020-10-20

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-09T14:13:19.712Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.