The Aesthetic of the Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are likely heading to the World Series. Undoubtedly Rays fans are happy about this, but what about the rest of the world? Sure, the Rays are full of great stories and interesting players who are fun to watch, but does that really matter when the baseball aesthetic they present is boring and the underpinnings of the team are so scummy? If the Rays win a World Series does that really help the game of baseball when the way their front office approaches the game is far removed from the sport we all grew up loving?

This isn’t going to be one of those posts blasting the Rays for any innovation or new ideas they have launched upon the baseball world. Innovation is great, baseball should and does need to be changing. It can’t be the same sport now as it was in 1888, 1908, 1948, or even 1988. Change is always needed and welcomed, but that doesn’t mean that all change is good. A major part of baseball’s identity is its status as an entertainment product. Baseball, like every other team sport, is more about the emotional attachment that is borne out of the act of watching one team square off with another team. The most important aspect of baseball is that the entertainment presented is one that makes people want to tune in and show up again and again.

Watching the Rays play I fail to see how the aesthetic they represent is one that is sustainable long term. Sure, it’s sustainable when it comes to them winning, but is it sustainable when it comes to keeping fans engaged, both at a local and global level? The numbers may say that your starter should be pulled after 4 innings, but that doesn’t mean that fans will see a game where 11 pitchers are used and think, “Man, this is the good stuff, this is why I watch baseball.” The way the Rays use their pitchers slows down the game, and it stops fans from forming any sort of attachment with the never-ending cavalcade of pitchers the Rays use on a daily basis. This isn’t a problem for hardcore fans, but it is a major issue for casual fans who want and need recognizable faces to draw them back.

The lack of recognizability goes beyond the pitchers the Rays use and the way they structure their rosters on a yearly basis. They go after the cheapest best players possible, and again, there’s nothing wrong with that approach when it comes to winning. However, what the past 50 or so years have proven is that while a team’s jersey is important, the majority of fans don’t stick around because of a jersey but because of the players they know and want to cheer for. Baseball as a whole is at a point where they are seeing decreased interest in the sport from younger generations. One key reason for that is the way that teams, owners, and Major League Baseball itself have done everything they could to reduce the star power of the players. The Rays are a natural extension of that philosophy, a team where the players are nothing more than prototype player X fitted into his slot this year only to be replaced by a cheaper version of prototype player X in 2021, and on down the line.

The cheapness with which the Rays operate is also a major factor in their lack of an aesthetic appeal. MLB and Rays fans may push a narrative that they are the little engine that could. Most little engines don’t have a principal owner with a net worth of $800 million who has recorded increasing profits every year while refusing to reinvest into the team or its relationship with the Tampa Bay community. The Rays aren’t an example of an underdog coming through against big titans, but of a titan who refuses to act as such and would rather cry poor to create a narrative from which they can always win in the public’s eye.

Add all of this together and you have the 2020 Tampa Bay Rays. They are a great team and the Rays front office deserves all the credit in the world for putting together a team that is poised to win the big one. They scouted properly, they stuck with players that other teams had given up on, and those players, in turn, have been fun to watch when not mired in the Rays on-field tactical maneuvering. At least they have this year, who knows how many of those players will be jettisoned next year to make room for a similar but cheaper model. Those who do stick around will be paid far less than they should, and all the while the Rays will play the same aesthetically unpleasing brand of baseball while leaning hard on their erroneous “we’re the little guy” narrative. The Rays are playing baseball, that much is true, but they aren’t playing a brand of baseball that is good for the long term health of the sport.