Perhaps baseball’s biggest surprise in 2022 was the young Cleveland Guardians making the playoffs and winning American League Central. It was indeed a landmark season in the franchise’s long history as baseball’s youngest team won a division expected to be dominated by the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox come spring.
But it was always going to be a season to remember and one that the franchise would remember. In 2021, Cleveland decided to change its franchise mascot and name after decades of controversy. This year was the first year under this new name, the Guardians.
But they are not the only team to have changed their name and image during this century without changing cities.
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In fact, the team the Guardians play in the American League Wild Card, the first postseason series as the Guardians, is that same team.
Here are the names to know in the Cleveland vs. Tampa Bay series.
Why did the Cleveland Guardians change their name?
For over 100 years, the Cleveland Major League Baseball team has used Native American terms and logos. Over the past few decades, the use of this name and imagery has become a cloud over the franchise, as many players in the sports world have pushed for the team to change its name and mascot.
After dropping the mascot and logo, but still using the moniker, the franchise changed the name in 2021 and even asked actor and Cleveland baseball fan Tom Hanks to help reveal the name.
What are the Cleveland Guardians called?
The Guardians are named after the Art Deco statues on the Hope Memorial Bridge near Progressive Field in Cleveland. The statues are known as the “Traffic Guardians”.
The Cleveland Guardians have been sued over a new name
A lawsuit was filed against the Cleveland Guardians over the name change. But they weren’t angry fans. It was the local roller derby team. Both parties settled the dispute.
Why did the Tampa Bay Rays change their name?
It was a subtle change, but a change nonetheless. Founded in 1998, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays played under this moniker from 1998 to 2007.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were among baseball’s worst teams from 1998 to 2007. When Stuart Sternberg bought the team after the 2007 season, he changed the name by dropping the “devil”.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays was never the name the team wanted
According to MLB.com, the franchise wanted to be the Tampa Bay Stingrays, but a winter league team in Hawaii already owned the brand, which led to the “Devil Rays”.
Some Tampa Bay fans hated the ‘devil’ in the name
Florida fans didn’t like that the “devil” was part of his name, even though it had nothing to do with the Bible. After nearly a decade of pushing to have it removed, Sternberg finally acquiesced to fans.
The Tampa Bay Rays logo and name actually have nothing to do with fish
The name change to “Rays” was actually meant to mean the state of Florida, the state of the sun, and the sun’s rays. This is why the sun appears in the current logo.
But when you have a fish tank in right center field, it’s hard to hide from the origin. Thus, the franchise still uses the devil ray image in some logos.