The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are a professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League.

From their inception up until November 2007, the organization's name was the "Devil Rays", after the common nickname for the manta ray.

An expansion franchise, the club was founded in St. Petersburg in 1998.

It was civic leader and St. Petersburg Times publisher, Jack Lake, who first suggested St. Petersburg pursue a Major League baseball team.

The Minnesota Twins, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, and Seattle Mariners all considered moving to either Tampa or St. Petersburg before deciding to remain in their current locations.

The Florida Suncoast Dome (now named Tropicana Field) was built in St. Petersburg in 1990 with the purpose of luring a major league team.

When MLB announced that it would add two expansion teams for the 1993 season, it was widely assumed that one of the teams would be placed in St. Petersburg.

One of those young players, Elijah Dukes, was put on the temporary inactive list when a St. Petersburg Times report alleged he threatened to kill his estranged wife and their children.

The bullpen problem was at its worst during the first half, when the likes of Casey Fossum, Jae Seo and Edwin Jackson were just as likely to pitch two innings as five, which taxed an already mediocre bullpen by forcing them to log extra innings.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays signed manager Joe Maddon to a contract extension, with the club picking up the 2008 and 2009 club options.

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