AP Tampa Bay Rays

Here's a reminder to all the feel-good story fans. Having the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series would not be good for television ratings.

Every time a Cinderella comes to the party like this, I'm always asked the same question by some radio host. Isn't the great story of the FILL IN THE BLANK HERE team worth some eyeballs?

And the answer is no. The bottom line if the Rays made it to the World Series, they'd arguably be the most anonymous team to ever make it there.

You've got a rookie in Evan Longoria. A guy who couldn't crack the Yankees roster in Carlos Pena. And the casual baseball fan would not be able to name one of the pitchers in their starting five. Cinderella stories have proven over and over again that they're good to a point. And then it crumbles.

March Madness is about the cinderella and yet when George Mason played Florida in the semifinals of the tournament in 2006 ratings were down 9 percent from the year before when Illinois played Louisville.

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Now there is a catch to all of this. The key phrase here is "all else being equal."

The reason I say that is because TV executives would rather have the Red Sox play over the Rays. But if the Red Sox and the Rays play the same opponent in the World Series and the Red Sox play in a four-game series and the Rays play in a seven-game series, it's very possible that the Rays series could out rate the Red Sox series. Why? Because history shows that interest builds, for the most part, especially for Games 6 and 7.

The 1997 Florida Marlins was also a no-name team. When they played the Cleveland Indians in 1997, the series averaged a 16.7 ratings, in part because Game 7 drew more than double the ratings that Game 1 did.

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