I had the pleasure of going to see games 1 and 2 of the American League Championship Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox. The games were played at Tropicana Field on October 10th and 11th and it was an experience I will never forget. I had been to a few Major League games in the past but I had never experienced playoff baseball.Tropicana Field is the home stadium of the Rays and it is a monstrous dome stadium located in beautiful downtown Saint Petersburg. Tropicana Stadium opened in 1990 under the name “The Florida Suncoast Dome” Even though the stadium was finished, the city did not have a major league baseball team. The Tampa Lightning hockey team played 3 seasons in the stadium and the name of the stadium was changed to the “Thunder Dome” The city was finally awarded a MLB team in 1995 and the stadium name was changed to “Tropican Field” The first MLB game played in the stadium was March 31, 1998. The stadium is situated right off interstate I-275 which makes it easy to get to from any city in the Tampa area. Tropicana has some pretty large parking lots and there are plenty of private lots adjacent to the stadium.

Walking inside the stadium I was taken back by the enormous size of the interior of the dome. I have always thought baseball should be played outside but I really liked the look and feel of the dome. Looking around at the seating it appeared that nearly every seat would provide an excellent view of the game. There was a lot of activity on the field with grounds crews sparying water on the infield and sports reporters and camera crews were getting ready. Spectators were pouring into the stadium 3 hours before the start of the game. The thousands of fans entering the stadium were mostly Rays fans but there was no shortage of Red Sox fans.

By the time the game was close to starting the stadium was filled to capacity which is around 34,000. It was an awesome site to be there at the start of the game with 34,000 screaming MLB fans ready for some championship baseball. This was the first time the Tampa Rays have been in the MLB playoffs in their 10 year history. Not only was I seeing my first ever MLB playoff game but I was also watching the first ever Tampa Rays Championship series! The Tampa Rays advanced to the American League Championship Series by defeating the Chicago White Sox in the divisional series. The Rays are playing the Boston Red Sox who are the defending World Series Champions.

Game 1 was a great game with James Shields pitching for the Rays and Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching for Boston. The Rays could never get any offense going and the Red Sox were able to win 2-0. Before the start of the 8th and 9th innings the jumbo video screen showed a live shot of a stadium suite where Hulk Hogan and another wrestler were screaming “let’s go Rays” into the camera. Hulk Hogan really got the crowd fired up and the place became electric with people standing on their feet yelling “let’s go Rays” Even with the renwed energy of the crowd, the Rays could not come from behind and so game 1 was over. Walking out of the stadium with the thousands of Rays fans with their heads down you would have thought they were being lead to the gallows. The Red Sox fans were understandably fired up and they were letting the Rays fans have it.

Returning to the stadium for game 2 I was really concerned that the Rays were going to fall to 0-2 and then they would have to play the next 3 games in Boston. Game 2 proved to be an exciting MLB playoff game complete with a home run derby and numerous pitching changes. I was in the outfield and it was awesome to see 7 home run balls fly into the stands. The Rays were up by 1 run late in the game when a wild pitch allowed Boston to score the tying run which infuriated the Rays fans inside the stadium. It seemed the game would never end until B.J.Upton became the games hero by hitting a sacrifice fly which scored a run and the Rays won. The crowd went crazy when the game was finally won at 1:30am in the morning. This time it was the Rays fans turn to scream and heckle the Boston fans on the way out of the stadium.

I’m not a big MLB fan but these 2 championship games made me understand why so many people are absolutely crazy about the sport. This experience ranks right up there with a NCAA Final Four game that I went to and I hope to see the Rays playing in the World Series this year!