The Tampa Bay Rays now face the oldest problem in postseason baseball: win on Monday, or start packing. After losing Game 2 of the World Series 5-4 in Milwaukee on Saturday, the Rays trail the Brewers 2-0 in the best of seven series, and Game 3 moves to St. Petersburg, Florida, where their season will either restart or effectively end.
History is not kind to teams in this position. Only ten teams have recovered from a 2-0 deficit to win a World Series, the most recent being the New York Yankees in 1996. The Rays do not need history to tell them the scale of the task. They need one win, at home, to change the shape of the series and force Milwaukee to win twice more rather than once.
How Game 2 slipped away
For one inning, the Rays looked like the better team. They scored four runs in the first, helped by a throwing error from Milwaukee rookie Cooper Pratt, with an RBI single from Chandler Simonds, another from Junior Caminero, and a two run homer from Liam Hicks that travelled 411 feet to deep right centre. Then Milwaukee’s bullpen shut them out for the rest of the game.
The pattern repeated a frustration from Game 1. Jonny DeLuca doubled to open the ninth off Aaron Ashby, moved to third on a groundout, and stayed there when Yandy Diaz struck out on a full count pitch. It was the second straight game in which Tampa Bay left the tying run at third in the ninth inning, a detail that will haunt the Rays if the series ends quickly.
What Game 3 has to change
As Reuters reported, Milwaukee’s bullpen threw six scoreless innings in Game 2, and the Rays could not score after the first inning despite chasing starter Logan Henderson after three innings. The Rays’ offence, which produced four runs in a single inning, produced nothing in the eight innings that followed.
That is the adjustment for Monday: score late, not just early, and find a way past a bullpen that has now won eight times in nine Milwaukee postseason victories. The Rays have the home crowd and a series that is not yet lost. But a third straight loss, especially at home, would leave them needing four wins in a row against the best relief corps in the playoffs. Monday is not a must win in the mathematical sense. In every sense that matters, it is.
