Rays

Tampa Bay's Rays sit in the American League East. The 2024 season under Kevin Cash brought him a Manager of the Year award.

The club took the field in 1998 as an expansion side called the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and carried that name for a decade before the word "Devil" was dropped ahead of the 2008 season. That same year turned into the franchise's high point: an American League pennant, an AL East title, and a World Series appearance that ended in a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Home games are played at Tropicana Field, a domed stadium that seats 25,025 for baseball, the smallest capacity in Major League Baseball, though the building can be reconfigured past 42,000 when the postseason arrives.

What the franchise has built its identity on is player development rather than spending, and the record book reflects it. Evan Longoria holds the club's career marks for home runs, RBIs and doubles.

Joe Maddon managed the Rays through their breakthrough years, taking AL Manager of the Year honours in 2008 and again in 2011, before Kevin Cash took over in 2015 and has run the dugout ever since.