The Rays Stay

With the Tampa Bay Rays trying to maintain first place in their division so far in 2011, it's a bit of a miracle that the team is still here.

In its first 10 years, Tampa Bay's major league team -- then known as the Devil Rays -- lost a combined 972 games, averaging nearly 100 losses a season. In 2002, the team lost 106 times, representing 66% of its games.

But something happened after that first decade of ineptitude. And in 2008, after 10 years of downright pitiful play, the newly rebranded Tampa Bay Rays made it to the World Series.