I had the pleasure of going to see games 1 and 2 of the American League Championship Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox. The games were played at Tropicana Field on October 10 and 11 and it was an experience I will never forget. He had been to a few Major League games in the past, but had never experienced playoff baseball.
Tropicana Field is the home stadium for the Rays and is a monster dome stadium located in beautiful downtown St. Petersburg. Tropicana Stadium opened in 1990 under the name “The Florida Suncoast Dome.” Although the stadium was finished, the city did not have a major league baseball team. The Tampa Lightning hockey team played 3 seasons in the stadium and the name of the stadium was changed to “Thunder Dome”. The city finally received an MLB team in 1995 and the name of the stadium was changed to “Tropican Field”. The first MLB game. played at the stadium was on March 31, 1998. The stadium is located just off I-275, making it easy to access from any city in the Tampa area. Tropicana has some fairly large parking lots, and there are many private lots adjacent to the stadium.
Walking inside the stadium, I was struck by the enormous size of the interior of the dome. I always thought baseball should be played outdoors, but I really liked the look of the dome. Looking around the seats, it seemed that almost every seat would provide a great view of the game. There was a lot of activity on the field with field crews spraying water inside the field and sports reporters and camera crews getting ready. Spectators were arriving at the stadium 3 hours before the start of the game. The thousands of fans that poured into the stadium were mostly Rays fans, but there was no shortage of Red Sox fans.
By the time the game closed to begin, the stadium was packed to capacity, which is around 34,000. It was an incredible site to be there at the start of the game with 34,000 MLB fans screaming and ready for a baseball championship. This was the first time the Tampa Rays have been to the MLB playoffs in their 10-year history. Not only was I watching my first MLB playoff game, but I was also watching the Tampa Rays’ first championship series! The Tampa Rays advanced to the American League Championship Series by defeating the Chicago White Sox in the division series. The Rays are playing the Boston Red Sox, who are the defending World Series champions.
Game 1 was a great game with James Shields pitching for the Rays and Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching for Boston. The Rays were never able to get any offense going and the Red Sox were able to win 2-0. Prior to the start of innings 8 and 9, the giant video screen showed a live shot of a stadium suite where Hulk Hogan and another wrestler were yelling “go Rays” into the camera. Hulk Hogan really got the crowd going and the place went electric with people on their feet chanting “go Rays”. Even with the renewed energy from the crowd, the Rays couldn’t come from behind and thus Game 1 was over. Walking out of the stadium with the thousands of Rays fans bowing their heads, you would have thought they were being led to the gallows. Red Sox fans were understandably excited and were letting Rays fans have it.
Coming back to the stadium for game 2, I was really worried the Rays would go down to 0-2 and then have to play the next 3 games in Boston. Game 2 turned out to be an exciting MLB playoff game complete with a home run derby and numerous pitching changes. I was in the outfield and it was amazing to see 7 home runs fly into the stands. The Rays were up by 1 run late in the game when a wild pitch allowed Boston to score the tying run that angered Rays fans inside the stadium. It seemed like the game would never end until BJUpton became the hero of the games by hitting a run-scoring sacrifice fly and the Rays won. The crowd went wild when the game was finally won at 1:30 a.m. in the morning. This time it was the Rays fans who yelled and booed the Boston fans as they left the stadium.
I’m not a huge MLB fan, but these 2 championship games made me understand why so many people are absolutely crazy about the sport. This experience is right up there with an NCAA Final Four game I went to and I look forward to seeing the Rays playing in the World Series this year!