# 2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season

The 2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season was their fifth since the franchise was created. This season, they finished last in the American League East, and managed to finish the season with a record of 55–106. Their manager was Hal McRae who entered his first full season and last season with the Devil Rays.

## Offseason

* November 8, 2001: Ryan Freel was signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 103 | 58 | .640 | — | 52‍–‍28 | 51‍–‍30 |
| Boston Red Sox | 93 | 69 | .574 | 10½ | 42‍–‍39 | 51‍–‍30 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 78 | 84 | .481 | 25½ | 42‍–‍39 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 67 | 95 | .414 | 36½ | 34‍–‍47 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 55 | 106 | .342 | 48 | 30‍–‍51 | 25‍–‍55 |

### American League Wild Card

vteDivision leaders :
| Team | W | L | Pct. |
| New York Yankees | 103 | 58 | .640 |
| Minnesota Twins | 94 | 67 | .584 |
| Oakland Athletics | 103 | 59 | .636 |
vteWild Card team (Top team qualifies for postseason) :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Anaheim Angels | 99 | 63 | .611 | — |
| Boston Red Sox | 93 | 69 | .574 | 6 |
| Seattle Mariners | 93 | 69 | .574 | 6 |
| Chicago White Sox | 81 | 81 | .500 | 18 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 78 | 84 | .481 | 21 |
| Cleveland Indians | 74 | 88 | .457 | 25 |
| Texas Rangers | 72 | 90 | .444 | 27 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 67 | 95 | .414 | 32 |
| Kansas City Royals | 62 | 100 | .383 | 37 |
| Detroit Tigers | 55 | 106 | .342 | 43½ |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 55 | 106 | .342 | 43½ |

### Record vs. opponents

2002 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ANA | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR | NL |
| Anaheim | — | 7–2 | 3–4 | 6–3 | 6–3 | 8–1 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 3–4 | 9–11 | 9–10 | 8–1 | 12–7 | 7–2 | 11–7 |
| Baltimore | 2–7 | — | 6–13 | 3–4 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 7–0 | 5–1 | 6–13 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 10–9 | 3–6 | 4–15 | 9–9 |
| Boston | 4–3 | 13–6 | — | 2–4 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 9–10 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 16–3 | 4–3 | 13–6 | 5–13 |
| Chicago | 3–6 | 4–3 | 4–2 | — | 9–10 | 12–7 | 11–8 | 8–11 | 2–4 | 2–7 | 5–4 | 4–3 | 5–4 | 4–2 | 8–10 |
| Cleveland | 3–6 | 5–1 | 4–5 | 10–9 | — | 10–9 | 9–10 | 8–11 | 3–6 | 2–5 | 3–4 | 4–2 | 4–5 | 3–3 | 6–12 |
| Detroit | 1–8 | 4–2 | 4–5 | 7–12 | 9–10 | — | 9–10 | 4–14 | 1–8 | 1–6 | 2–5 | 2–4 | 5–4 | 0–6 | 6–12 |
| Kansas City | 3–6 | 0–7 | 2–4 | 8–11 | 10–9 | 10–9 | — | 5–14 | 1–5 | 1–8 | 3–6 | 4–2 | 7–2 | 3–4 | 5–13 |
| Minnesota | 5–4 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 11–8 | 11–8 | 14–4 | 14–5 | — | 0–6 | 3–6 | 5–4 | 5–2 | 6–3 | 6–1 | 10–8 |
| New York | 4–3 | 13–6 | 10–9 | 4–2 | 6–3 | 8–1 | 5–1 | 6–0 | — | 5–4 | 4–5 | 13–5 | 4–3 | 10–9 | 11–7 |
| Oakland | 11–9 | 5–4 | 3–6 | 7–2 | 5–2 | 6–1 | 8–1 | 6–3 | 4–5 | — | 8–11 | 8–1 | 13–6 | 3–6 | 16–2 |
| Seattle | 10–9 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 4–3 | 5–2 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 11–8 | — | 5–4 | 13–7 | 6–3 | 11–7 |
| Tampa Bay | 1–8 | 9–10 | 3–16 | 3–4 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 2–5 | 5–13 | 1–8 | 4–5 | — | 4–5 | 8–11 | 7–11 |
| Texas | 7–12 | 6–3 | 3–4 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 2–7 | 3–6 | 3–4 | 6–13 | 7–13 | 5–4 | — | 8–1 | 9–9 |
| Toronto | 2–7 | 15–4 | 6–13 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 6–0 | 4–3 | 1–6 | 9–10 | 6–3 | 3–6 | 11–8 | 1–8 | — | 9–9 |

### Opening Day starters

* Brent Abernathy
* Steve Cox
* Chris Gomez
* Ben Grieve
* Toby Hall
* Bob Smith
* Tanyon Sturtze
* Jason Tyner
* Greg Vaughn
* Randy Winn

### Notable transactions

* June 4, 2002: B. J. Upton drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed September 16, 2002.
* June 4, 2002: Elijah Dukes drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 3rd round of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed August 21, 2002.
* September 22, 2002: Released Toe Nash, the day after he was released from jail.

### Citrus series

The annual interleague games between the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were played in June and July. They are known as the Citrus Series. The Devil Rays won the series 4-2.
| Date | Winning Team | Losing Team | Score | Venue |
| June 14 | Devil Rays | Marlins | 4-3 (14 innings) | Pro Player Stadium |
| June 15 | Marlins | Devil Rays | 3-0 | Pro Player Stadium |
| June 16 | Devil Rays | Marlins | 4-1 | Pro Player Stadium |
| June 28 | Devil Rays | Marlins | 4-0 | Tropicana Field |
| June 29 | Marlins | Devil Rays | 3-2 | Tropicana Field |
| June 30 | Devil Rays | Marlins | 6-5 (12 innings) | Tropicana Field |

## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Toby Hall | 85 | 330 | 85 | .258 | 6 | 42 |
| 1B | Steve Cox | 148 | 560 | 142 | .254 | 16 | 72 |
| 2B | Brent Abernathy | 117 | 463 | 112 | .242 | 2 | 40 |
| SS | Chris Gomez | 130 | 461 | 122 | .265 | 10 | 46 |
| 3B | Jared Sandberg | 102 | 358 | 82 | .229 | 18 | 54 |
| LF | Carl Crawford | 63 | 259 | 67 | .259 | 2 | 30 |
| CF | Randy Winn | 152 | 607 | 181 | .298 | 14 | 75 |
| RF | Ben Grieve | 136 | 482 | 121 | .251 | 19 | 64 |
| DH | Aubrey Huff | 113 | 454 | 142 | .313 | 23 | 59 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| John Flaherty | 76 | 281 | 73 | .260 | 4 | 33 |
| Greg Vaughn | 69 | 251 | 41 | .163 | 8 | 29 |
| Jason Conti | 78 | 222 | 57 | .257 | 3 | 21 |
| Jason Tyner | 44 | 168 | 36 | .214 | 0 | 9 |
| Félix Escalona | 59 | 157 | 34 | .217 | 0 | 9 |
| Andy Sheets | 41 | 149 | 37 | .248 | 4 | 22 |
| Russ Johnson | 45 | 111 | 24 | .216 | 1 | 12 |
| Damian Rolls | 21 | 89 | 26 | .292 | 0 | 6 |
| Jason Smith | 26 | 65 | 13 | .200 | 1 | 6 |
| Bob Smith | 18 | 63 | 11 | .175 | 1 | 6 |
| Dave McCarty | 12 | 34 | 6 | .176 | 1 | 2 |
| Paul Hoover | 5 | 17 | 3 | .176 | 0 | 2 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Tanyon Sturtze | 33 | 224.0 | 4 | 18 | 5.18 | 137 |
| Joe Kennedy | 30 | 196.2 | 8 | 11 | 4.53 | 109 |
| Paul Wilson | 30 | 193.2 | 6 | 12 | 4.83 | 111 |
| Ryan Rupe | 15 | 90.0 | 5 | 10 | 5.60 | 67 |
| Luis de los Santos | 3 | 14.0 | 0 | 3 | 11.57 | 7 |
| Dewon Brazelton | 2 | 13.0 | 0 | 1 | 4.85 | 5 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Victor Zambrano | 42 | 114.0 | 8 | 8 | 5.53 | 73 |
| Jorge Sosa | 31 | 99.1 | 2 | 7 | 5.53 | 48 |
| Travis Harper | 37 | 85.2 | 5 | 9 | 5.46 | 60 |
| Wilson Álvarez | 23 | 75.0 | 2 | 3 | 5.28 | 56 |
| Delvin James | 8 | 34.1 | 0 | 3 | 6.55 | 17 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Esteban Yan | 55 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 4.30 | 53 |
| Steve Kent | 34 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5.65 | 41 |
| Jesús Colomé | 32 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 8.27 | 33 |
| Doug Creek | 29 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.27 | 37 |
| Travis Phelps | 26 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.78 | 36 |
| Lee Gardner | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.05 | 8 |
| Brandon Backe | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.92 | 6 |
| Lance Carter | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1.33 | 14 |
| Jason Jiménez | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 5 |
| Tom Martin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.20 | 1 |
| Jason Standridge | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 1 |

## ESPN25 Worst Team of All-Time

In 2004, ESPN was celebrating 25 years of the network since its founding in 1979. The network decided to honor the first 25 years from the best to the worst and everything else in between. The Rays were ranked 16th in the actual ESPN Worst Team Result of the first 25 years conducted by ESPN and its users. The users put them higher at 13th than the original airing as the worst team by only 3 spots.

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Durham Bulls | International League | Bill Evers |
| AA | Orlando Rays | Southern League | Mako Oliveras |
| A | Bakersfield Blaze | California League | Charlie Montoyo |
| A | Charleston RiverDogs | South Atlantic League | Buddy Biancalana |
| A-Short Season | Hudson Valley Renegades | New York–Penn League | Dave Howard |
| Rookie | Princeton Devil Rays | Appalachian League | Edwin Rodríguez |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Durham