On This Day: March 31st, 1998
The Detroit Tigers take on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in their first regular season game as an MLB Franchise. Detroit went on to win 11-6. Luis Gonzalez and Joe Randa both went 3-for-5 at the plate driving in two and three runs, respectively. Justin Thompson hurled 6 strong innings for the Tigers allowing just two earned runs on eight hits and recording two strikeouts.
Wilson Alvarez, who threw the franchise first pitch, struggled mightily surrendering six earned runs in a mere 2.1 innings pitched. Dan Carlson, in relief of Alvarez, did not fair well on the mound either, being pounded for five earned runs over 2.2 innings. The best performance at the plate for the Devil Rays was that of Wade Boggs, going 1-for-4 on the day, however, his one his was a three-run bomb off of Tigers starter Thompson.
Tampa would go on to finish their inaugural season with a record of 63-99, ending the season a full 51 games back of the first place New York Yankees. The best offensive player for the Devil Rays was 34 year old Fred McGriff who ended the season with a .284 batting average along with 19 homeruns, 33 doubles and 81 RBI. Rolando Arrojo put up the best numbers on the mound going 14-12 (the only starter to hold a winning record for the team) with a 3.56 ERA and 152 strikeouts over 32 starts.
The Tampa Bay Rays enter the 2021 season with the No. 1 Farm System per MLB Pipeline. They currently have eight players on the MLB Top 100 Prospects list: Wander Franco (No. 1), Luis Patino (No. 19), Randy Arozarena (No. 34), Vidal Brujan (No. 50), Brendan McKay (No. 72), Shane McClanahan (No. 84), Xavier Edwards (No. 85) and Shane Baz (No. 90).
The Detroit Tigers did not fair much better, also finishing last in their division in 1998. Detroit landed a record of 65-97, but were only 24 full games back of the first place Cleveland Indians at the end of the season. Tony Clark (.291 BA, 34 HR, 103 RBI), Damien Easley (.271 BA, 27 HR, 100 RBI) and Bobby Higginson (.284 BA, 25 HR, 85 RBI) were the Tigers best offensive performers on the season. Brian Moehler had the most successful season on the mound going 14-13 with a 3.90 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 33 starts. Todd Jones also collected 28 saves with a 4.97 ERA.
The Detroit Tigers enter the 2021 season with the No. 2 Farm System per MLB Pipeline. They currently have five players on the MLB Top 100 Prospects list: Spencer Torkelson (No. 3), Casey Mize (No. 11), Riley Greene (No. 21), Tarik Skubal (No. 24) and Matt Manning (No. 25). The Tigers are the first team to ever have five of the Top-25 players of an MLB Pipeline Top 100 list.