The ultimate goal is to win a championship. We had a great season. A very memorable one, and more importantly one for which we can build upon to win championships in the future. It woke up a community to baseball.

However, we did not win the championship. We can talk about how bad a 7 games series is as an indicator, or that baseball shouldn’t be played in winter conditions. In the end it doesn’t matter. 2008 the World Series Champions were the Phillies. It doesn’t matter that we could have probably beaten them 7 out of 10 different 7 games series. The rain doesn’t matter. The awful umpiring doesn’t matter. The record book isn’t going to reflect any of that. We were the American League Champions. We did not win the World Series.

It was a great season. More than I could have ever imagined. However, we did not win the ultimate prize. That is the goal for every team when they strap on the shoulder pads, tie the laces of their cleats, attend spring training or spring practice. We didn’t achieve that goal.

You don’t win the ultimate prize by being the most talented team, the team with the best record over 162 games, the luckiest team, the grittiest team, the team with the best FO…You win it by winning 4 of 7 games in the World Series. We didn’t do it.

Nobody in their right mind will say this season was a failure. It was a success. Rome wasn’t built in a day. However, teams are remember based upon how many championships they have. We have 0. In 10 years if we still have zero championships then we have a big problem…On the bright side this is just the beginning of the journey for the Tampa Bay Rays, this is nowhere near the end.

I’m not saying R.J. is wrong about chance and the difficulty of winning a series vs. winning 97 games, but at the end of the day, every sport has a system in place for determining a champion. Baseball’s involves winning three short series. If you get to the final one and lay an egg the way the Rays did, you don’t get credit for your 97 wins. You finish second.

Nothing else matters. The 2006 Cardinals and plenty of other teams won’t ever think about their regular season win totals again.

Championships are the reason they play all these games.

Any team winning the World Series has to be out-standing during the regular season (enough to be one of eight teams) then they have to play out-standing high-pressure baseball for 3 series and win them all to be the Champion. So the World Series is not just a random best of seven, it features the two teams that could weather all of that. If everything was left to “probablity” why would they play the games at all….and why would we care? “Well it says here my team should be able to beat your team 7 out of 10 times, so I guess you had just better go home now.” Most of us are excited about the games because people can do extrodinary things in big moments….things that probablity would tell you, you should not be able to do. Or they do terrible things. Is it just a result? Of course….but isn’t that the whole point of competitve sports? To win on the highest stage? Competition to determine who is the best, not probablity.

But I do agree with you….anybody saying this season is a disapointment because the Rays did not win the WS should be banned from life. Unforgettable season, unforgettable summer. I will say though….the Phils are the best team. The deserve to be called that. I will expect the same when the Rays win it.