Breaking news: The Tampa Bay Rays are really good. Like, a lot better than they were last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and … you get the idea.
It's been the hot-button topic in baseball all year, as the Rays have gone from 66 wins last season to 97 this year and their first playoff berth. As the Rays open their postseason run Thursday afternoon (opponent to be announced), it's given us at the Daily an opportunity to reflect. Here are 10 more of the great turnaround stories in sports history:
10. 1967 Red Sox. In ‘66, the American League standings were a historical anomaly of sorts — the Yankees finished dead last in the 10-team league, with the Red Sox a half-game ahead in ninth. Then came the "Impossible Dream," as Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski led the Sox to the ‘67 World Series. They fell short against Bob Gibson's Cardinals.
9. 2004-05 Suns. Call it the "Nash factor" — the Suns' acquisition of the soon-to-be two-time MVP transformed the franchise right away. The Suns went from a 29-win season to a 62-20 finish, a top seed in the West and an MVP for Nash in his first year in town. As for a Finals berth, though, we're still waiting…
8. 2006 Tigers. In 2003 the Tigers were a horrific 43-119 ... eww. Yet three years later, All-Star outfielder Magglio Ordonez, gritty manager Jim Leyland and Hall of Fame catcher Pudge Rodriguez had all come to town, and the team battled its way to its first AL pennant since 1984.
7. 2007-08 Penguins. Long gone are the days when Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr roamed the ice at the Igloo in the Steel City. After rumblings abounded of moving the franchise to a new city, the 2005 draft shifted the Penguin hockey landscape as they selected "Sid the Kid" Crosby first overall. The team went from the cellar to the top by the 2008 playoffs as they advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals before bowing out to the Red Wings.
6. 1997-98 Spurs. Thanks to perhaps the luckiest roll of a ping-pong ball in NBA history, the Spurs were able to draft a 21-year-old kid named Tim Duncan out of Wake Forest. The result was an immediate 36-win upswing and an NBA title the following season. Talk about a good lottery! David Robinson should have gotten injured more often.
5. 1999 Diamondbacks. The expansion D-Backs burst onto the scene in 1998 with an expectedly crappy 65-97 record. Fast forward to the next fall to find the Arizonans with a sparkling 100-62 mark, and the Big Unit slaying every NL hitter in sight. Despite a tough NLDS loss to the Mets that season, the D-Backs wouldn't be denied as they took home their first World Series victory two years later.
4. 1999 Rams. Once one of the sorriest franchises in the NFL, the Rams made a stunning transformation into the "Greatest Show on Turf" as they rode second-year "Marshall, Marshall, Marshall" Faulk and journeyman quarterback Kurt "Who is this Guy" Warner. After finishing an abysmal 4-12 the season prior, the Rams went to a dominating 13-3 and outlasted the Titans 23-16 in Super Bowl XXXIV. The team swept the season's slate of offensive awards and the offense led the NFL in total yardage and scoring, while the defense limited the opposition to an NFL-low 74.3 yards per game.
3. Jennifer Capriati. After turning professional at age 14, Capriati reached the semifinals at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open and even went on to win the gold medal in Barcelona in 1992. She later put her tennis career on hold and went through personal challenges, including an arrest for marijuana possession, but Capriati would return to the tour and go on to win three major titles and become No. 1 in the world.
2. 1991 Twins and Braves. The classic "worst to first" story — for the first time in World Series history, two teams that had finished last the previous year were vying for October glory. NL MVP Terry Pendleton brought the Braves all the way to an extra-inning Game 7 before Jack Morris legendarily out-dueled John Smoltz, pitching a 10-inning shutout to win it all.
1. 2007-08 Celtics. "What does ‘top of the world' feel like, Kevin?" With the acquisitions of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and a host of supporting cast members, the Celtics engineered the biggest turnaround in NBA history, going from the NBA's second-worst in 2006-07 to a title this June. If that's not an inspiration to cellar-dwellers everywhere, then what is?
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