We did it!
Tight and tense throughout, the Rays took a 2-1 victory over St. Louis to win the World Series, sparing MLB the look of an 80-win team being crowned champions. The title is the Rays' second in three seasons and the deciding game was the ultimate nail-biter. Starters
Tyler Glasnow and Tony Gonsolin were outstanding and they each gave the opposition little to work with.
Brandon Lowe doubled with two out in the first and
Adley Rutschman singled him home to put the Rays up 1-0, but Justin Williams, once a Rays farmhand, homered off Glasnow to tie it up. That's where we stood as the game marched on with
Alex Vesia getting out of a two-men on jam in the 6th and then
JT Ginn getting two strikeouts after a man reached 3rd with one out for the Cards in the 7th. And it was in the bottom of the inning when the Rays got the breakthrough as
Heston Kjerstad and
Heliot Ramos drew walks before
Wander Franco, the face of the franchise, singled home Kjerstad with 2 out.
Aaron Fletcher had to survive another 2-men-on jam in the 8th and in the 9th
Tyler Rogers did what he does best, inducing three ground balls on five pitches with
Matt Chapman's throw to
Angelo DiSpigna setting off pandemonium.
A look at the celebration:
The final postseason stats:
Not too many standout performances here as we didn't exactly dominate the postseason but were just good enough to keep surviving and advancing. Our secret weapon was the bullpen, which was outstanding.