For this night, it all fell into perfect harmony. The gods of baseball looked past America’s asymmetrical pastime and its obscene payroll inequities to smile upon the Tampa Bay Rays in their season opener. The Trop was packed, the players pumped and the championship banners hoisted.
To complete the perfect storm of just desserts, the Rays won big — and the ultimate opposition, the fat revenue-stream New York Yankees, were vanquished. But the pedigreed pinstripers weren’t just defeated by that embarrassing 15-5 margin, they were made to stand around and observe and absorb all the pomp and choreography that comes with celebrating a pennant. This time, somebody else’s pennant. In this case, their payroll-challenged, poor cousins from the American League East. How delightfully humbling.
So, the Yankees have won 38 more pennants and 26 more World Series than the Rays? So, they spent nearly half a billion dollars on free agents this off-season? So, they own the A-Roid circus? So, Derek Jeter is building a house bigger than Tropicana Field?
So what? Right now the Rays are better.