The Tampa Bay Rays are a professional baseball team that plays in Major League Baseball (MLB). The Rays are a member of the East division in the American League (AL). Founded in 1998, the team was called the Devil Rays until 2007 when upper management decided that they wanted the team name to refer more to a ray of sun than to a manta ray. The Rays have been a more successful franchise since changing their name. The team won the AL East in both 2008 and 2010, and they made the World Series in 2008 where they lost four games to one to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Rays have also qualified for Wild Card berths in 2011, 2013, and 2019.

The Rays play their home games at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Tropicana Field is the only fixed roof stadium in the MLB. The team consistently has some of the worst fan support in baseball with a very low average attendance despite winning a lot more games than they lose since 2008. Since the franchise is still relatively young, the Rays have yet to have an MLB Hall of Famer from their team. They do have two retired numbers: number 12 for third baseman Wade Boggs and number 66 for coach Don Zimmer. The number 42 is retired by every Major League team to commemorate Jackie Robinson.