The expansion was brought a slew of new teams to Major League Baseball.
In 1998, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Rays were officially founded, which increased the total number of MLB teams to 30.
Both organizations are in small markets and don’t exactly have a winning tradition that precedes them like the New York Yankees or the St. Louis Cardinals might.
Arizona won its first World Series title in 2001 and has not been back to the Fall Classic since.
Tampa Bay has won two American League pennants but have lost in the World Series both times.
A graphic on Twitter shows just how strikingly similar these two teams are.
The similarities between the 25-year history of the Diamondbacks and Rays are wild
(via @dbaxfax) pic.twitter.com/9oP1uMUD45
—Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) November 14, 2022
A Tale Of Two Franchises
In almost category, these two teams are either very close to one another or exactly the same.
They each have the same winning percentage (.485) since their inception in 1998.
They have each lost a total of 2,034 games.
Tampa Bay’s lifetime record is 122 games below the .500 mark, with Arizona being 120 below the mark.
In terms of team statistics, the two franchises are also either very similar or exactly the same.
Both teams have a lifetime batting average of .255 since being founded in 1998.
They are also very close in OPS, batting average, runs scored, runs allowed, and several other categories.
ERA is another one of the categories where the two teams are strikingly similar.
Arizona’s career ERA is 4.26, with Tampa Bay’s currently sitting at 4.25.
However, there is one big difference.
These days, the Rays are a consistent postseason contender despite their small market status, while the D’Backs tend to come and go.
