Who Has Averaged 86 Wins in Last Decade?

[Dave Borton]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/magazine/tampa-rays-stu-sternberg-baseball.html?unlocked_article_code=1.cU8.OoIe.TP_xkZu7QkCh&smid=url-share (Free article from NYTimes).

Great summary of how the Rays manage to win it yet can't draw fans.

"Since April 2008, only two teams, the Yankees and the Dodgers, have won more games. At one point, this poorly supported, low-revenue franchise managed to win 860 games over the course of a decade — that is, it averages 86 wins a season while playing in the same division as the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays. “What they do down there, I think, is very special,” says Rocco Baldelli, the Minnesota Twins’ manager, who played and coached for the Rays. “Not just in baseball, but in the world of sports and even business.”

 

[The Great Hambino]

They've spent their entire existence in a barely-accessible warehouse.  That has to have played a part in tamping down attendance.

And then there's Florida itself.  For whatever reason, it seems like baseball is wildly popular in that state at every level ... except for the local teams at the highest level.  That's always struck me as odd.

[FlyingFinn]

Just as a Rays player becomes known and plays well, he gets traded. Often, that trade turns out to be a good baseball decision and the team improves in the long run. Except the fans now lost the player they loved and now are less connected to the team.

And that may be exactly what the Twins did in the Louie Varland trade, hopefully not minus the team improving in the long run.

[Dave Borton]

2 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

They've spent their entire existence in a barely-accessible warehouse.  That has to have played a part in tamping down attendance.

And then there's Florida itself.  For whatever reason, it seems like baseball is wildly popular in that state at every level ... except for the local teams at the highest level.  That's always struck me as odd.

I lived in Florida for over 16 years.

St Pete Dump (warehouse). Politics are difficult between both sides of the bay. No one wants to pony up for the stadium. Traffic over the Kennedy or Gandy bridges is impossible. Transplants keep their loyalty to the Mets/Yanks/Guardians/Reds so that little is left for Ray/Marlins.

Secondly, there is a ton of other leisure distractions in Florida. On a glorious day, last place I want to be is inside the Tampa Warehouse. 

When we lived down there, I took in Single A ball. I felt the competitive nature of the game and the hunger of the kids at that level was a value.

[The Great Hambino]

27 minutes ago, Dave Borton said:

I lived in Florida for over 16 years.

St Pete Dump (warehouse). Politics are difficult between both sides of the bay. No one wants to pony up for the stadium. Traffic over the Kennedy or Gandy bridges is impossible. Transplants keep their loyalty to the Mets/Yanks/Guardians/Reds so that little is left for Ray/Marlins.

Secondly, there is a ton of other leisure distractions in Florida. On a glorious day, last place I want to be is inside the Tampa Warehouse. 

When we lived down there, I took in Single A ball. I felt the competitive nature of the game and the hunger of the kids at that level was a value.

Interesting point about the abundance of single A options to scratch that baseball itch.  I'd thought about the transplant issue, but that doesn't seem to hurt them as much in other sports

It's hard for me to really tell if a major league team could succeed in Florida because they've never really had a proper stadium.  They've had an indoor driving range (trying to diversify my insults of the Trop), a football stadium, and the weirdest stadium built since Camden Yards changed the game

[Dave Borton]

9 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

I'd thought about the transplant issue, but that doesn't seem to hurt them as much in other sports

It's hard for me to really tell if a major league team could succeed in Florida because they've never really had a proper stadium. 

Transplant issue. When I attended Single A games, you would hear the loyalty issues as guys would argue their hearts out about Yanks/Mets/Boston preferences.

Miami is the larger puzzle for me. With the amount of Cubans and their descendants (rabid fans of the game), the Florida Marlins have never been able to cash in on that natural relationship with the ethnic group.