For as long as I can remember, I have been a Pittsburgh Pirate fan. I'll spare you the sob story, but being the fan of such a lousy baseball team has me seriously considering breaking the ninth baseball commandment: "Though shalt not covet your neighbor's baseball team." I am seriously jealous of Tampa Bay Ray fans right now. I want that team and if watching them doesn't make you drool a little, too, you're lying to yourself.
Look at this team. Evan Longoria's already set a record for homers in a playoff sereis by a rookie and he's slugging over .900 in the ALCS. He just turned 23. B.J. Upton is at .313/.400/.633 with two monster home runs. He's 24. Carl Crawford has nine hits in 18 at-bats and even though it feels like he's been around forever, he's just 27. James Shields and Matt Garza, the emerging aces? 25 and 24, respectively. And when you factor in guys like David Price and Eric Kazmir and Carlos Pena (still only 30) and minor leaguers Wade Davis and Jeremy Hellickson ... wow.
They key part? This isn't a fluke. This Rays team isn't the Rockies. They didn't catch fire and sneak out a wild card because the league collapsed around them. They won the best division in baseball and they're beating the snot out of the defending World Champions at Fenway Park. This team is so good and so young that the things they're capable of in the next few years that they can afford to keep everyone together are almost unfathomable. Enjoy watching them. You know you want to.
