The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Twins last night 2-1 even after Rays closer Alex Colome tried his hardest to lose the close game in the 9th. The Rays are 8.5 games back in the AL East, but they’re only 2.5 games back in the AL Wild Card and just pulled back to .500 on the season with a record of 70-70.
Being a fan of the Tampa Bay Rays is tough at the best of times. I’ve been a fan for years and I’ll still readily admit that while I love Tropicana Field it is a complete pile of shit and a terrible place to watch baseball games. But just because my team plays inside of a steaming pile of guano I still try and get out to the games when I can.
I wasn’t there last night to see the Rays beat the Twins as Playoffs Fever heats up, and neither was anyone else from the greater St. Pete/Tampa Bay/Sarasota area. The Tampa Bay Rays set a record for the lowest attendance in the 20-year history of the team playing at Tropicana Field with only 6,509 fans in attendance. The stands looked entirely empty last night:
That 6,509 is lowest crowd ever for a #Rays game at the Trop in 20-season history
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) September 6, 2017
Florida seems to have other things on its mind than baseball pic.twitter.com/KYGDWp9ilT
— J. Scott Butherus (@JScottButherus) September 5, 2017
Not exactly wild-card fever at the Trop for #Rays and #Twins tonight pic.twitter.com/0qDlrvvPr6
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) September 5, 2017
Everyone in Florida is panicking right now with Hurricane Irma bearing down on the state. This category 5 hurricane is wider than the state of Florida, and it’s expected to cause devastation from the Florida Keys on up to Tallahassee. So it makes sense that the attendance would be down for last night’s game, but it’s almost unfathomable for a professional sports team to only pull in 6,509 fans for a game when they’re in the hunt for the playoffs. (h/t SI)