There’s something electric brewing in Tampa Bay. While most MLB teams boast skyscraper payrolls and sell-out crowds, the Rays have spent 2025 battling against the odds, and doing so successfully. Despite the fact that they have been exiled from their Tropicana home due to the devastation of Hurricane Milton and are operating on a measly budget of just $55m, the Sunshine State outfit has managed to turn heads and ascend to second place in the stacked AL East.
The Rays Rise From the Ashes
This isn’t just a story about wins and losses—it’s about an organization that makes magic from modest means. Although with that being said, there have been plenty of wins too. Far more than anyone expected them to rack up by the midway point of the 2025 season.
With Ryan Pepiot’s sub-3.00 ERA and Brandon Lowe’s slugging leading the way, the Rays have gone from divisional no-hopes to genuine contenders.
And don’t just take our word for it; popular online sports betting sites seem to agree. Despite the fact that they are regularly turning out in the 11,000-capacity Steinbrenner Field – the Yankees’ spring training facility – the popular online sports betting at Bovada platform currently makes Tampa a surprise +440 shot to win their division. In fact, the American betting giant currently makes the Rays a +2700 to win the World Series for the first time, a price shorter than the +5000 afforded to both the Boston Red Sox and the 2023 champion Texas Rangers.
Of course, the path they’re currently blazing feels somewhat unheard of. However, baseball history is sprinkled with some fearless upstarts who slammed the odds out of the park. So, can these 2025 Rays echo the greatness of some of sport’s most inspiring surprise stories? Here are three others that dared to dream.
The Rays have scored 12 straight runs
pic.twitter.com/5X0F6MKygQ https://t.co/kS9dyi0tkZ
— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) June 19, 2025
Pirates Break Their 20-Year Curse
Imagine waiting two whole decades for a winning season. That’s right, not for a World Series or a divisional title, just one solitary season in which a team won more games than it lost. Well, Pittsburgh Pirates fans know the struggle all too well.
After 20 long years of heartbreak, futility, and bargain-basement payrolls, the Steel City’s faith began to waver. And let’s face it, why wouldn’t it? Their team was in the midst of the worst barren spell in American sporting history, one never seen before or in the years since.
Yet in 2013, the Pirates ripped the script to shreds and delivered a baseball fairy tale. Led by the electrifying Andrew McCutchen—a human highlight reel who’d soon pocket an MVP—the Steel City outfit surged to a jaw-dropping 94–68 record. From Francisco Liriano’s wicked stuff to Jason Grilli’s ninth-inning theatrics, every game felt like a playoff.
They wouldn’t just end their 20-year wait for a winning season; they would also reach the postseason for the first time since 1992. And their Cinderella story wouldn’t end there. The Pirates knocked off the Cincinnati Reds in the wildcard round to secure their first playoff victory since winning the World Series in 1979.
Even though St. Louis cut their October a little short, the class of 2013 transformed PNC Park into one roaring, gold-clad cauldron. Sure, the magic dimmed somewhat in the years that followed—the playoff runs of 2014 and 2015 were epic, but the glory proved fleeting. No matter: for that one wild ride, an entire city remembered what winning felt like.
Mets’ Fireballers Ignite Queens
In 2015, the Mets became must-see TV. Ownership worries, injuries to their would-be ace Matt Harvey, and years of hovering around the league’s middle tier had left expectations in the gutter. Yet, armed with a quartet of flame-throwers—Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, and Steven Matz—the Big Apple outfit aimed for greatness.
The fireworks exploded with Yoenis CĂ©spedes’s arrival. Suddenly, Citi Field was the epicenter of a sporting revolution. The Mets hadn’t reached the postseason in nine years, but a 90-win regular season saw them claim their first NL East crown since 2009. When the Dodgers were narrowly knocked off in the NLDS, Queens were dancing in the streets. When they unceremoniously swept the Cubs in the NLCS, there was absolute euphoria.
That triumph set up the Mets’ first World Series appearance in 15 years, and their showdown with Kansas City felt like destiny. Unfortunately for the upstart outfit, the Royals had other ideas. With Salvador PĂ©rez firing on all cylinders, the fourth-seed KC emerged with a comfortable 4-1 victory, ensuring that the Citi Field side’s wait for a championship extended into a third decade. Fast forward to 2025, and the wait still goes on.
Oakland’s Moneyball Strikes Again
Grit? Check. Guts? Double check. A payroll even the discount section would envy? That was the Oakland A’s calling call.
At the turn of the millennium, Billy Beane revolutionized baseball with his Moneyball strategy. The cost-savvy approach based on data rather than the consensus opinion saw the Athletics rise from the doldrums to become a major force. His exploits were ultimately immortalized forever with a 2011 Hollywood blockbuster starring Brad Pitt. A year on from that brilliant movie’s release and Beane was up to his old tricks once again.
In 2012, iconic GM had torn the Oakland roster down to the studs, rolled the dice on rookies, and faced predictions of 90+ losses. But why listen to critics when you’ve proven once before that your outlandish ideas and willingness to think outside the box are an approach that bears fruit? Once again, just as was the case a decade prior, Beane was proven right.
Josh Reddick and Yoenis Céspedes mashed. The bullpen locked it down. And, as September melted into October, the As staged one of baseball’s most dramatic comebacks—overtaking the Rangers on the season’s final day to win the AL West. They didn’t make it past the ALDS, and their core scattered too soon, but in those few months, Oakland’s brand of hustle, unity, and defiance lit up the sport in a glorious sequel to one of the greatest sporting stories ever told.
