Tampa Bay Rays Tickets

Tampa Bay Rays 2011 Playoffs Outlook The Tampa Bay Rays snuck into the playoffs on the last day of the season as a wild card team, benefitting from the epic collapse of the Boston Red Sox.

The Rays trailed Boston by nine games in early September, at which time the Red Sox had a 99.78% chance of making the playoffs. I guess that's why you play the games.

Tampa Bay lost an awful lot of top players in the offseason, but they managed to fill them with role players who have really stepped up when given the opportunity. Guys like veteran first baseman Casey Kotchman really epitomize what Tampa Bay is all about.

They also finally got top prospect Demond Jennings on the field, and he has done nothing to disappoint. In fact, you could argue Jennings has played better over the past two months than Carl Crawford did all season long.

The one area where Tampa Bay will have an advantage over the rest of the AL playoff teams is their starting rotation, which is certainly the deepest of all of them. The Rays also have plenty of playoff experience, and that should pay off when things get a little tense.