Here are the top 5 moments in Trop history

Game 7 in 2008 or Game 162 in 2011?

You don’t need to read much more than those four-word descriptions before the memories start flooding back. The first was Game 7 of the 2008 American League Championship Series, the unforgettable moment the Rays reached the World Series for the first time. The second was the dramatic final game of the '11 regular season that completed a monthlong rally and a madcap comeback to get back to the postseason.

They are the greatest moments in Rays history and the club’s best nights at Tropicana Field. What else might make the latter list? Let’s take a look at five of the Rays’ top moments at Tropicana Field, their home ballpark for all 24 seasons of franchise history, plus a few more for good measure.

1) The 2008 ALCS clinch: Oct. 19, 2008
This is a moment Tampa Bay sports fans will simply never forget. A 23-year-old David Price threw the pitch and raised both arms high as Boston's Jed Lowrie smacked a hard-hopping grounder toward second base. Akinori Iwamura scooped it up, stepped on the bag and leaped as high as possible in celebration. Players formed a dogpile around Price and catcher Dioner Navarro in front of the mound, with Carl Crawford flinging himself on top of his teammates.

The Rays, who went worst-to-first with 97 wins in the vaunted AL East, completed their historic and previously unimaginable turnaround by reaching the World Series for the first time with a 3-1 victory over the Red Sox in ALCS Game 7. As radio broadcaster Dave Wills put it, “This improbable season has another chapter to it!”

In a postgame TV interview, Price said, “This is the biggest night in Rays history.” Even though they lost the World Series in five games against the Phillies, it’s still the biggest night in Tropicana Field history.

2) Game 162: Sept. 28, 2011
It’s difficult to rank this second, but the 2008 clincher gets the edge based on what was at stake (the franchise’s trip to the World Series vs. a Wild Card spot) and the context (a year removed from being the last-place Devil Rays vs. a year removed from winning the AL East). But being second on this list is no slight. This game brought the most dramatic moments on one of the most dramatic days in baseball history.

While the Red Sox were blowing a lead in Baltimore, the Rays -- who’d already dug out of a nine-game hole in the AL Wild Card standings -- were erasing a seven-run deficit at the Trop. Tampa Bay put up three runs in the eighth to get on the board, then franchise player Evan Longoria made things really interesting with a three-run shot to left field. Down to their last strike in the bottom of the ninth, Dan Johnson -- the franchise’s first folk hero -- pulled a game-tying, pinch-hit homer to right field off Cory Wade.

You all know what happened next. The Red Sox lost to the Orioles, meaning the Rays’ worst-case scenario was a Game 163. But the best-case scenario followed shortly thereafter in the 12th inning, as Longoria lined a walk-off shot just over the wall in left field off Scott Proctor for an 8-7 win over the Yankees that sealed the Rays’ third trip to the postseason.

3) Mr. 3,000: Aug. 7, 1999
This was Major League history, plain and simple. Wade Boggs, a Hall of Famer out of Tampa, Fla.’s Plant High School, smacked a two-run homer off Cleveland pitcher Chris Haney to right field for his 3,000th hit in the Major Leagues. Boggs was the first player in MLB history to join the 3,000-hit club with a home run; there had been five doubles, one triple and 16 singles before his homer. When the 41-year-old Boggs completed his trip around the bases, he got down on both knees and kissed home plate.

It was just Boggs’ second home run of the 1999 season, and the 118th (and final) of his 18-year career with the Red Sox, Yankees and then-Devil Rays. The Yankees’ Derek Jeter (against Price and the Rays) and Alex Rodriguez eventually joined Boggs by homering for their 3,000th career hits.

4) The first no-hitter: July 26, 2010
When Matt Garza took the mound for the Rays against the Tigers, Tampa Bay had been no-hit four times in franchise history. Three of those took place in the previous year, give or take a few days: Mark Buehrle’s perfect game in Chicago (July 23, 2009), Dallas Braden’s perfect game in Oakland (May 9, 2010) and Edwin Jackson’s 149-pitch no-hitter against his former team at Tropicana Field (June 25, 2010).

This time, the Rays got to celebrate a gem of their own at the Trop. Garza dominated for 120 pitches, striking out six and only walking one batter, and Matt Joyce hit a grand slam off Max Scherzer (who was hitless through five innings) to give Tampa Bay a 5-0 win over Detroit in the franchise’s first -- and, still, only -- no-hitter.

5) Welcome to The Show: March 31, 1998
It all started here.

After the Tampa Bay area’s decades-long quest for a Major League team to call its own, many dreams became reality when Wilson Alvarez threw the Devil Rays’ first pitch to the Tigers’ Brian Hunter in front of an Opening Day crowd of 45,369 at Tropicana Field. Detroit went on to win, 11-6, and manager Larry Rothschild’s Devil Rays would ultimately finish last in the AL East with a 63-99 record. But they had to start somewhere, and three years after St. Petersburg was awarded an expansion franchise, this was finally it.

Honorable mention
? World Series Game 1 on Oct. 22, 2008: The Rays lost to the Phillies, 3-2, but this was the arrival of World Series baseball at Tropicana Field.

? Crawford’s six-steal game on May 3, 2009: The Red Sox simply could not stop the Rays’ running left fielder, as Crawford swiped six bases without being caught once in Tampa Bay’s 5-3 victory. Crawford tied a Major League record, last accomplished in the AL by Hall of Famer Eddie Collins in 1912, that hasn’t been matched since.

? AL Division Series Game 3 on Oct. 7, 2013: Down two games to none against the Red Sox after a couple of ugly losses at Fenway Park, Jose Lobaton kept the Rays’ dreams alive with a walk-off homer off Koji Uehara that had the Trop rocking. The Rays lost Game 4 the next night, but it was still a dramatic postseason moment in front of a loud home crowd.

? Celebrating Don Zimmer’s life on June 7, 2014: Zimmer, a senior adviser for the Rays before he passed away at age 83, spent most of his life at the ballpark -- he even got married at home plate -- so the Trop was a fitting place for this tribute to a man who spent 66 years in baseball. Guests including Joe Torre, Jim Leyland and Tommy Lasorda joined the Zimmer family for a pregame ceremony that included touching statements and video tributes while the Rays and Mariners lined up along the foul lines wearing replica No. 23 Brooklyn Dodgers jerseys.

? Pride Night on June 17, 2016: Five days after the horrific mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., the Rays hosted a stirring show of support by welcoming 40,135 fans to Tropicana Field and raising more than $300,000 for the Pulse Victims Fund. It was the largest regular-season crowd at the Trop since April 10, 2006, and it was made possible by the club putting all remaining tickets on sale for $5, with all proceeds going toward Pulse victims’ families. The Rays wore “We are Orlando” T-shirts during batting practice and donned the Orlando Rays caps of their former Minor League affiliate. The Giants won the game, 5-1, but it was one of the most impactful nights Tropicana Field has ever seen.

? Clinching at home on Sept. 22 and Sept. 25, 2021: It had been a decade since the Rays experienced a clinching moment at the Trop, but for the first time since Longoria’s Game 162 homer, Tampa Bay gave its hometown fans something big to celebrate. The Rays first clinched their third straight postseason berth with a 7-1 win over Toronto, opting for a tame celebration. Then came their second straight AL East title clincher with a 7-3 win over Miami, after which they went wild and ran back onto the field to include the fans in their party.