How the Tampa Bay Rays history timeline works

Rays history, from the expansion years on, is split into cards here, each with a short description printed under the title, and you order them by year. One card starts on the timeline with its year visible. Every new card gets placed in a gap: before, between or after those already down. Correct guesses reveal the year. Incorrect ones send the card to its rightful spot and cost you one of your three lives.

The Rays are one of baseball's youngest teams, so this deck covers a short span and the cards are tightly packed. It runs from lean early years through a change of name and a long stretch of punching above their budget, with trades of homegrown stars along the way. A few cards are about the ballpark itself rather than the games played in it, and those are worth a careful read.

Want a longer game? On the deck tree you can tick this deck alongside any other one measured in release years and dates, and they shuffle into a single timeline together.

What's in the deck

Here are 22 of the 22 cards you might be dealt. Their values stay hidden until you place them.

Played their inaugural season as the Devil Rays The expansion team debuted at Tropicana Field
Wade Boggs collected his 3,000th hit The veteran became the first to reach the milestone with a home run
Lost a franchise-record 106 games The struggling club bottomed out in the standings
Lou Piniella's first season as manager The hometown skipper took over the dugout
Stuart Sternberg took control of the franchise New ownership assumed command of the club
Joe Maddon managed his first season The future architect of the turnaround took over the bench
Drafted David Price first overall The team used the top pick on a college left-hander
Rebranded as the Rays and won the pennant The renamed club, with its Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria, reached the World Series
Won the AL East The club captured a division title in a 90-plus win season
Evan Longoria's Game 162 walk-off A dramatic final-day homer clinched a playoff berth
David Price won the AL Cy Young The ace claimed the award as the league's best pitcher
Reached the playoffs via a Game 163 tiebreaker A win in a one-game tiebreaker extended the season
Traded ace David Price at the deadline The club dealt its star pitcher in a midseason move
Traded franchise icon Evan Longoria The face of the franchise was dealt to the Giants
Blake Snell won the Cy Young and the 'Opener' emerged The team's breakout ace won the award as it pioneered starting games with a reliever
Returned to the playoffs as a Wild Card A 96-win season ended in a hard-fought ALDS
Won the pennant and reached the World Series The club advanced to the Fall Classic in the pandemic-shortened season
Won 100 games and the AL East A franchise-record win total delivered a division crown
Reached the postseason for a fourth straight year The club extended its run of consecutive playoff appearances
Opened the season 13-0 The blistering start tied a modern record for the best beginning to a season
A hurricane tore the roof off Tropicana Field A major storm left the domed stadium unusable
Played home games at a spring-training ballpark With their dome damaged, the club relocated home games to a Tampa spring park