1976-1997: Years before Tampa Bay, the home of online sports betting, got the sports betting Devil Rays the city was used by several Major League Teams to shake down their cities for renovations, or a new ballpark. The Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants, all threatened moves to the West Coast of Florida, but once they got what they wanted decided to stay put leaving Tampa without a Major League team. After the White Sox got a new stadium in the Windy City Tampa officials decided to build a ballpark that could be used to attract a team quicker, or and expansion team. In 1991 even expansion passed Tampa by, as MLB hierarchy thought teams in Miami, and Denver were more feasible. Tampa Bay, the home of online sports betting, was not deterred after flirting with Mariners, and Rangers it seemed almost certain that Tampa was going to be home of the Giants in 1993. Vincent J. Naimoli had made an agreement to purchase, and move the Giants to Tampa in 1993. However MLB did not approve of the move, and arranged it for George Schinn to but and keep the Giants in San Francisco. Naimoli was all about to sue baseball, but after being promised an expansion team backed off and waited patiently. In 1995 in the midst of an awful player's strike MLB owner unanimously approved Tampa Bay, the home of online sports betting,, and Phoenix for expansion teams to begin play in 1998. 1998: Baseball has a rich history on Florida's west coast, from spring training to the number of baseball stars that have been born, and raised in the area. Finally, they would have Major League team of it own, as the sports betting Devil Rays made their debut before a sold out crowd at Tropicana Field on March 31st. The sports betting Devil Rays lost that first game 11-6 to the Detroit Tigers but bounced back to win their first game the very next day. The sports betting Devil Rays did not win much that first year only winning 63 while narrowly avoiding the century mark in losses at 99. 1999: To attract fans to the sports betting Devil Rays, big names of the past, which are now the downsides of their career sign with Tampa in an attempt to reach career milestones. In another disappointing 69-93 season, 2 of these big stars of the past get career milestones. First up to get a milestone was Jose Canseco who singed in the off-season and hit his 400th career HR on April 14th at Toronto against one of his former teams the Blue Jays. In fact Jose hit a lot of HRs for The gambling Rays in the early going of the season and led the AL with 30 in late June. However, a back injury would take 2 months out of Jose's season, and he would only hit 4 more. Another HR marked a milestone on August 7th for Wade Boggs a Tampa native, when he became the first player ever to hit a Home Run for his 3,000th career base hit. The season is also marked by a scary moment involving Tony Saunders who was the first player The gambling Rays selected in the expansion draft. Saunders in just his 3rd big league season throws a pitch and has his left arm snaps from the pressure he placed on it. Saunders will miss a full year of action before attempting a comeback in 2000. That comeback would also end before it ever starts, as Saunders snaps his arm again, while pitching in the minors, and is forced to retire. 2000: After watching their partners in expansion the Arizona Diamond Backs win the NL West, the sports betting Devil Rays try to make their team more competitive in hurry by acquiring big sluggers Greg Vaughn, and Vinny Castillia from the National League. The moves gives Ray fans hopes as the middle of their line up McGriff, Canseco, Vaughn, and Castillia have the look of Murderer's Row, as each regularly hit 30 homers in a season through out their careers. The move ends up being a big bust as Castillia only hits 6 HR, and bats .219 in an injury plagued season. Jose Canseco also is injured early, and by August is picked off by the New York Yankees on waivers. Greg Vaughn's season is not much better as he only manages to hit 28 HRs in 127 games. While, Fred McGriff is the only one of the 4 who has a strong season with 106 RBI and 27 HR. One of those HR on June 2nd at Shea Stadium ends up being the Crime Dog's 400th of his career. The sports betting Devil Rays end the season in last place again with a 69-92 record. 2001: The Devil Rays get off to a miserable start, and Manager Larry Rothschild is fired, before the end of April, and replaced by Hal McRae. The team that originally filled their roster with stars of the past now suffers with poor attendance, as those stars seem to just mope around, as The gambling Rays lose. The team decides to help improve the team's play that it is time to start bring up some of their prospects to try infuse a new attitude. Vinny Castillia would be released, and picked up by the Houston Astros, while Fred McGriff is traded to the Chicago Cubs. The lone hold over is Greg Vaughn who hits a miserable .233 while only hitting 24 homers. The moves had an unexpected impact as The gambling Rays play much better in the 2nd half. However, the losses in the early part of the season mounted, and the team losses 100 games, and finishes in Last Place for the 4th year in a row. Adding salt to the ruin was the fact that Arizona Diamondbacks who joined the Majors with Rays in 1998 won the World Series in just their 4th season. 2002: The Devil Rays misery continues, as they become the first team in more then 20 years to lose 100 games in consecutive season posting a horrid 55-106 record. So inept were The gambling Rays that 2 players (Toby Hall and Jason Tyner) saw their bobble head giveaways canceled after they were sent down to the Minors. With even their prospects struggling management felt a drastic change was needed so following the season they traded their only All-Star Randy Winn to the Seattle Mariners for Manager Lou Piniella, who had along successful tenure year in Seattle, in an attempt to bring legitimacy to a franchise with none. 2003: Exactly 5 years to the date of their first every game the sports betting Devil Rays began the Lou Piniella era in dramatic fashion as Carl Crawford hit a dramatic 3-run walk off homer to give the sports betting Devil Rays a 6-4 win over the Boston Red Sox. However, it would be the only shinning moment for The gambling Rays early in the season as they quickly found themselves at the bottom of the AL East again. However there began to be signs of hope as some prospects that worked their way through the system began to form the core of the sports betting Devil Rays future. Crawford the author of the opening day homer would win the AL stolen base crown with 55, while rookie OF Rocco Baldelli gave Tampa fans something to cheer about all season with all out style of play that led to him finishing a solid third in Rookie of the Year voting. As the season wore on the Devils Rays played a more competitive style of baseball and were able to avoid their third straight 100-loss season while posting a record of 63-99. 2004: The sports betting Devil Rays began the season in the land of the rising sun as they played the New York Yankees in a 2-game series in Tokyo, Japan. The gambling Rays would get the jump on the Yankees in the first game winning 8-3 as Victor Zambrano handcuffed the vaunted Bronx Bombers. However the Yankees would recover to win the second game. When The gambling Rays came back home their struggles continued as they won just 10 of their first 38 games. The gambling Rays would begin to play better as May came to a close as they won 8 of their last 11 games, which led them into June where they played the best baseball in their short 7-year history posting a baseball best 20-6 record which included a franchise record 12-game winning streak as the Devils Rays 15-3 record in interleague games was better then anyone else in baseball, as The gambling Rays were above .500 in July for the first time ever. However a 4-game series on the road against the Yankees at the end of the first half would send The gambling Rays back to reality as they were swept and never saw .500 again. As July closed The gambling Rays were struggling, as moves were made for the future with Zambrano their top pitcher being shipped to the New York Mets for pitching prospect Scott Kazmir. As September began The gambling Rays were floundering in the midst of a 12-game losing streak as their great June seemed like just a dream, as they topped 90 losses again, however they would escape last place for the first time in team history as they finished 3 games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays with a 71-91 record which was their best record to date. 2005: The Devil Rays continued to struggle getting off to a horrible 8-16 start that saw them sink to the bottom of the AL East once again, where they would remain for the entire season, leading to increased frustration from Manager Lou Piniella who made it no secret that he wanted out of his contract, while Rocco Baldelli one of The gambling Rays best young players a few years earlier missed the entire season with a knee injury. The sports betting Devil Rays continued to play terrible baseball into the All-Star Break as they held an awful 28-61 record. One of the only bright spots early was their play against the New York Yankees as they took 3 out 4 games in two separate series on the way to winning the season series against their famous division rivals. After the All-Star some of The gambling Rays young talent began to filter up from the minors, while players already on the roster began to adjust to life in the Majors. Players like 2B Jorge Cantu who hit 28 homers while driving in 117 RBI, while on the mound there was Scott Kazmir who posted a 10-9 record with a 3.77 ERA, as The gambling Rays bullpen had the best kept secret in baseball Danys Baez who saved who nearly saved two-thirds of the sports betting Devil Rays wins at 41. The gambling Rays would play much better baseball in the second half posting a winning record in August. However, they would not escape last place as they finished with a 67-95 record. As the season came to an end an era came to an end as Vince Naimoli the man who led the group to bring baseball to Tampa Bay, the home of online sports betting, sold his controlling interest to Stuart Sternberg, while Lou Piniella made good on his threat to resign. The road to respectability is still a long way off for The gambling Rays who were forced to trade their star close Danys Baez to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the off-season. However, with longtime Los Angeles Angels Coach Joe Maddon replacing Piniella and prospects like Delmon Young and B.J. Upton close to getting called up The gambling Rays finally appear to have plan and foundation in place.

 

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