Getting your player ready...
For 10 years, they were a lousy team with a fiendish nickname: the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Then the club exorcised the “Devil” from its name, and suddenly Tampa Bay is in the World Series. Was it the hitting, the pitching, the coaching — or the hand of God? Until this season, the Rays hadn’t even had a winning season. “You take the ‘Devil’ out of the Devil Rays,” said Boston shortstop Alex Cora, pointing to the sky, “and Jesus helps them out.” Of course, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils haven’t been cursed, winning the Stanley Cup three times — although the Buffalo Sabres lost the 1999 Finals with Miroslav Satan on their roster.
