Rays $2 Ticket Sale is Creative and Embarrassing at the Same Time

The Rays are the perfect combination of genius and shameless.

The team sold out their three-game series against the Orioles after running a promotion in which tickets cost a mere $2. It's a brilliant way to get fans into seats in the face of continuing attendance problems, but it's also incredibly embarrassing that it took such low prices to draw a crowd.

The promotion also $2 fountain drinks and $2 peanuts, a part of the deal that's open to all fans, not just those who swiped some of the cheap tickets.

It's all fine and good that the Rays finally have managed to pack the house, but it means a whole lot less considering that they were practically giving the tickets away. They may have fixed their attendance issues for a few games, but this clearly isn't a long-term solution.

Compounding the embarrassment here is that the Rays ran a similar promotion offering $5 tickets to five games. In the end, only two of the games sold out.

This is a team that's leading the Wild Card race. They boast a slew of exciting players like Austin Meadows, Tommy Pham and the newly-promoted Brendan McKay.

It shouldn't take such drastic measures for them to draw a crowd.

Is this really what it takes for baseball to be popular in Florida? Tickets that cost less than a pack of baseball cards?