The Rays lose the “Devil”, and now are on the verge of baseball heaven

The Tampa Bay Rays had a league-high 96 losses in the 2007 campaign. They have averaged 97 losses in the past decade.
Averaged.
(P.S. - There are 162 games in a season. Yes, they averaged almost 100 losses per season).
In the offseason following 2007, speculation has it that higher-ups of the organization decided they must be cursed. So, they conspired, “How about we remove the ‘Devil’ from our team name?”
Logical.
There’s nothing to lose when you’ve lost 100 games in a season three times in the decade.
And now, following the move, this season, their exorcism of a season, they have turned a complete 180 degree turn to win 97.
That’s right, propelling them from worst to first… showing that in fact, it is possible.
Is it magic?
You be the judge. Whatever the case, it is pretty miraculous.
In this epic season, the Rays trampled the consensus favourites in the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox to win the toughest division in all of baseball. The latter team, the Sox, won the World Series only a year prior. The Rays were forced defeat the champs in the American League Championship for the rights to play in the World Series.
“I don't have words to describe what I'm feeling right now,” first-baseman Carlos Pena said following the defeat of the Red Sox. “This is beautiful; a perfect story."
Scott Kazmir, a four-year veteran of the team, says “We have been in this rebuilding stage for years now.” And he is correct— but actually, they have really been in that stage since establishment.
But now… Now?
Now, finally, they are built.
In their first winning season, which they captured their first division title en route to their first playoff berth, Tampa Bay won the pennant.
They are taking on the Philadelphia Phillies in their first World Series.
So next time your team seems knee deep in the dead, and winning does not appear merely possible, just remember the Rays. The team who finished last for nine of ten seasons, to finally emerging in one improbable, perhaps magical, season.
This season.