RaysBB.com

I know, I know. I'm just going all out of order now.

While I was poking about on the Minor League Baseball website, trying to goad it into giving me the information I want, I found out something. Although the site gives the impression that data (box scores and such) is only available as far back as the 2008 season, it looks like you can actually get scores from as far back as the 2005 season. In that spirit, I collected the day-to-day scores for the 2005 Southwest Michigan Devil Rays, the Devil Rays' Midwest League affiliate (after the PDC with Charleston, SC ended).

So this will be the first Minor League season I've researched where I actually have a box score for every single game. Granted, there seem to be some issues with the MiLB site for that data (the line scores, for example, don't populate, and the logo presented are that of the successor club after the Devil Rays' affiliation ended, the Great Lakes Loons). But, the data matches up to the final W/L and RS/RA for that season, so I must have transcribed something right.

The sheet is available here.

The `05 SWM DRays were nothing special, in terms of performance, it seems. The ranged from a bit below .500 to 72-67 by the end of the season, punctuated by a 5-game winning streak at the end to get into the playoffs (they lost handily to the eventual champions, the South Bend Silver Hawks, in the first round).

There were some things to like about those northern D-Rays, though: Andy Sonnanstine, Fernando Perez, John Jaso, Reid Brignac, Fernando Perez, James Houser. Plenty of names Rays fans will recognize now.

Also of note: Guys now in the Rays system that played elsewhere in the MWL that season were Sean Rodriguez (with Cedar Rapids) and Jose Lobaton (with Ft. Wayne).

In addition, if you ever need info on the Midwest League, there's a fantastic website devoted to it at MWLGuide.com.

And again, as always, if you have more information about this team, please feel free to contribute.