Weekends bereft of glamorous foes

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 11, 2007

The Rays have problems drawing fans, evidenced by their meager attendance increase and a 17,131 average that ranked 29th among baseball's 30 teams.

And they got very little help from MLB officials who gave them a 2008 schedule that - while including the first-ever visit by the Cubs and the return of former manager Lou Piniella - has exactly one home weekend series against a marquee opponent, April 25-27 vs. Boston.

The other two series against the Red Sox, all three against the Yankees and the June 17-19 appearance by the Cubs are mid-week events.

The other 12 weekends, which obviously are more appealing to fans, are littered with series against the Orioles (three times), White Sox (twice), Angels, Astros, Blue Jays, Marlins, Royals, Tigers and Twins.

The Rays have no choice but to make the best of it.

"While the timing of particular home series certainly affects attendance, what is of greater importance is the experience we offer at Tropicana Field and the quality of play on the field," team president Matt Silverman said.

In addition to the Cubs, the Astros are making their first Trop trip. The Rays, in turn, will make their first visit to St. Louis May 16-18. They also go to Pittsburgh and have the usual home-and-home series with Florida.

The Rays open the season March 31 at Baltimore, then play a four-game series in New York before returning for their April 8 home opener against Seattle. The Rays have four three-city trips, the most taxing June 3-11 to Boston, Texas and Anaheim with no days off. Another oddity is a two-day trip to Minnesota between eight- and nine-game homestands.

Under the now-standard unbalanced format, they play 72 games (18 each) against their divisional opponents.

The Rays are establishing a season-ticket priority list (888-FAN-RAYS or devilrays.com); individual game sales usually don't start until February.

[Last modified October 10, 2007, 20:23:13]