Tampa Bay Rays. (Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images)
The Tampa Bay Rays are coming in hot with some Breonna Taylor commentary.
The Tampa Bay Rays aren’t sticking to sports ahead of MLB Opening Day.
Tampa Bay will host its AL East rival Toronto Blue Jays on Friday evening at cavernous Tropicana Field. While playing in front of a sparsely attended crowd is something we’ve grown accustomed to with the Rays for the last 20-plus years, who would have thought from the team’s official Twitter account they’d provide some commentary surrounding the murder of Breonna Taylor?
“Today is Opening Day, which means it’s a great day to arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor.”
The Tampa Bay Rays used Twitter to address Breonna Taylor’s murder.
Taylor was killed by three Louisville police officers in her home months ago, yet the officers have still not been arrested. It’s important, but many baseball fans don’t really care about it.
While this tweet had nothing but good intentions, the road to hell was paved with good intentions and it’s not being handled all that well by many baseball fans on Twitter. Keep in mind Tampa, Florida is a relatively sleepy retirement community when compared to other major cities in the country. Many people retire to the Florida Gulf Coast. It’s a conservative part of a generally conservative state, with a well-known Republican governor.
Do we want justice for Taylor’s senseless killing by the Louisville police? Absolutely, but why would the city of Louisville decide MLB Opening Day was the perfect day to arrest her killers? Kentucky is a state with no major professional sports teams. If it happened during the Kentucky Derby or during a Louisville Cardinals game, that might really get our attention.
The Rays’ heart was in the right place and it’s the right message to send. But it’s probably not going to make much of a difference.