Day 1 partying on the 10th floor

Spending most of my life in Kentucky the joy of being in a city when your home team makes a professional playoff was something I never got to experience. Living in Saint Petersburg not only fulfills this missing joy, but it does it with a powerful punch. Ok, so maybe that’s a lie. It isn’t even fair to call Tampa Bay fans fair weather fans. However, arguably the Rays are one of the best teams in the majors.

Game 2 at Fergs

Unfortunately, the Rays were paired up with the Red Sox in my first MLB playoff experience. Game 1, which was played in Boston, can only be described as a travesty. My office shutdown an hour early on that Friday afternoon and let up watch the game on the big screen in the conference room overlooking the bay, the city and the Trop.

Saint Pete roads closed down for the Game 3 affair

Game 2 was also played in Boston. But Fergs was in full affect. It was unbelievable how packed the game day bar was for an away. The game wasn’t pretty but me and a buddy enjoyed one of the last available tables at the watering hole.

I wasn’t sure if a Game 4 was possible so I only purchased two tickets for Game 3. We decided to drive their from our downtown office. That was a mistake. Parking was insane. We would have been better off just walking from the office because we ended up walking just as far from where we ended up paying $20 to park.

After the walk off

Downtown was unexplainable. One of the best experiences of my life. I couldn’t believe my entire city getting behind something so big. Baseball is new to me so I really appreciated it. Better yet, the game was really close until a Walkoff Homerun hit a few rows in front of me sealed a Game 4. The barely packed Trop erupted. I wish every Rays game was an intense but unfortunately the fans in Florida don’t care that much. The Rays would end up losing Game 4 but left a hunger for next season in my mouth.