Has any city ever held more than one major championship trophy in the same year?  Yes.  In fact, when you consider the four major sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL) it has happened twelve times.  “It” is owning two titles at the same time.

The city of New York dominates with half(6) of these occurrences.  Los Angeles, Boston, and Detroit share the other six times with two for each city.

The most recent is actually current.  In 2020 the Lakers and the Dodgers each took home the trophy.  Six of the years were prior to 1953, or over 68 years ago when far fewer cities had professional franchises.

But has any city ever held more than two major championships in a year(note year, not concurrently)?  No.

But, could it happen in 2021?  Say hello to the Bay Area.  Nope, don’t wave at San Franciso.  It’s the Tampa Bay area.

With one down, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady beat Kansas City in Super Bowl LV,  the city of Tampa needs two more to get there.

Last evening the Tampa Bay Lightning skated around, through, and faster in a game one rout of the Montreal Canadiens in the Lord Stanley’s NHL Finals. Winning a hockey game by a score of 5-1 is like winning an NFL playoff game by four touchdowns.  It was a beatdown.  Ah, but one game does not fill the old beat-up trophy with champagne, at least not yet.

Enter the Tampa Bay Rays into the conversation, please.  As the MLB 2021 season is very near the halfway mark in the regular season Tampa Bay owns the second-best record in the American League while trailing division leader Boston by one game in the standings.

The Rays do it on a shoestring budget and they do it with a lot of talent and heart.  Fluke?  Hardly.  The Rays lost in the ALDS in 2019 and in the World Series last year.  They have youth, enough experience, enthusiasm, super talent, and a very game manager.

The Bucs did it.  That’s one.

The Lightning look like a really good bet to do it.  They were 3-1 favorites to win the Stanley Cup prior to the game one dismantling of the Canadiens.  They quite likely will be two.

The Rays have a ways to go.  And, the National League is loaded with good to great teams such as the Dodgers, Padres, and Giants.

Alas, the dog days of summer are here.  And, in Tampa lightning is about to strike twice.

Can the Rays light up the sky over the bay a third time come fall?