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A brief history of Tampa Bay Rays Opening Day roster turnover

The Tampa Bay Rays are in a constant state of flux and you want any proof of that, look no further than their Opening Day lineups.

In the 21 opening days since the franchise’s inception in 1998, they have started a total of 104 players.

That is a nearly 50% turnover rate in the starting lineup in a per year average.

Evan Longoria has started the most Opening Days for the Rays, with 9 games started. Carl Crawford is next on the list with 8 games, and then Ben Zobrist is third with 6 games.

Moving to pitchers, we see that James Shields and Chris Archer share the franchise lead with four Opening Day starts.