Red, white and blue bunting hangs from the stands inside Tropicana Field, and a freshly spray-painted postseason logo is on display behind home plate.
Tables are set up in the left-field stands to accommodate the overflow of media folks, and players gave interviews in front of a multicolored ALDS backdrop Wednesday afternoon.
Tampa Bay Rays, meet October baseball. October baseball, meet the Tampa Bay Rays.
They're the neophytes on the block, babies compared to the rest of field battling for the American League pennant - the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and of course, the Chicago White Sox, the Rays' opponent in the American League Division Series that begins at 2:30 p.m. today at the Trop.
A red flag?
Hardly.
"It's one of those thing where the less you think about those things," said Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, "the better off you're going to be."
That's good, because the White Sox - champions of the American League Central who had to win a makeup game against Detroit and a one-game playoff over Minnesota just to get here - offer plenty to think about.
Not only have they swatted 235 home runs this season, but guys such as Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski, Bobby Jenks and Mark Buehrle were integral to Chicago's march to a world title in 2005.
Designated hitter Jim Thome, the hero of Tuesday's win over the Twins, is a veteran of two World Series.
"It can be an edge. There's a lot of pressure playing the playoffs," said Dye, the MVP of Chicago's World Series sweep of the Houston Astros. "Just being able to be in this environment before. . . . You know how to just take a step back and take a deep breath and go out there and relax."
Varying degrees of postseason experience can be found in the home clubhouse - Dan Wheeler pitched in a World Series, while Eric Hinske, Troy Percival and Cliff Floyd have championship rings. Jason Bartlett, Grant Balfour, Trever Miller and Chad Bradford have playoff games as their résumés.
But then there are guys like Longoria, Akinori Iwamura and Carlos Peña. In fact, with the exception of Bartlett, every piece of the Rays' infield makes a postseason debut today - including starting pitcher James Shields.
"You've got to understand - everybody doubted us until we won the American League East," said Shields, who allowed one run in six innings in his lone start against Chicago this year. "I don't think the pressure is going to get to us by any means." The Chicago White Sox enter today's Game 1 of the American League Division Series with momentum earned from surviving two elimination games, 2D..
BASEBALL
American League Division Series
NEW SENSATION to face playoff vets in first October test
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