October 28, Game 1:
Another game at the Trop, another dramatic ending. The Rays overcame deficits of 1-0 in the 6th and 2-1 in the 11th to pull out a walkoff 3-2 win in Game 1 of the 2026 World Series. Keibert Ruiz's 2-out, 2-run single with the bases loaded and two out off Cardinals rookie Leo Ortega was the difference in a pitching matchup between the expected Cy Young Award winners in each league, Tyler Glasnow and Jack Flaherty. The pairing lived to up to billing as Glasnow went 7 5 1 1 0 8 with the only run against him scoring thanks to Adam Oviedo reaching on a wild pitch strikeout in the 1st, while Flaherty gave the Rays nothing through 2 out in the 6th before being pulled. The Rays were thankful to see him go, and they tied the score off former teammate Diego Castillo in the 7th on a Vidal Brujan RBI single. Off we went from there, with the dueling bullpens getting it done through 10, as Liam Hendriks, Jose Alvarado and Jasseel De La Cruz (in his first inning of work) were spotless and Cardinal closer Seranthony Dominguez turned in 3 shutout innings. But De La Cruz gave up a long and loud homer to dead center by Josh Stowers in the top of the 11th and it looked like the Cards were on their way to a Game 1 victory. Their rookie pitching sensation Leo Ortega, ranked among the top prospects in baseball coming into this year and who mainly pitched in middle/setup relief this season, ran into trouble however after entering in the bottom of the frame. He got Keston Hiura to ground out to start the inning, but hit Anthony Rizzo (in the game after Triston Casas was pinch-run for in a rally that didn't materialize in the 9th), and gave up singles to Brandon Marsh and Brujan to load the bases. Wander Franco hit into a force at the plate, but beat the relay to 1st to keep the inning alive, and Ruiz delivered his game-winning hit as Brujan got in under the tag on Dylan Carlson's throw to the plate. Shane McClanahan will try to put the Rays up 2-0 tomorrow night.
(By the way, the "J.Martinez" who was the St. Louis DH tonight is in fact the same Jose "Cafecito" Martinez who won the AL batting title in 2020 for the Rays back when I started this save. He's bounced around from team to team [Cubs, Red Sox, 2 stints with the Pirates] before returning to his original club this season at age 38.)
October 29, Game 2:
Well we know now that we'll be playing 3 games in St. Louis instead of possibly only 2 as the Cardinals evened up the series with a thorough beating of the Rays 7-1. Things went south from get-go when Shane McClanahan walked Adam Oviedo to lead off the game, and ended up allowing 2 runs and 4 hits in the first, and then 2 more in the second. Wander Franco's error in the 2nd helped contribute to that rally and he also grounded into a double play in the first after Brujan reached via HBP to start the game as overlooked in all the Rays success so far this postseason is that Franco has been miserable, hitting .234 without even an RBI. In any event they stunk tonight in all phases of the game as Noah Syndergaard, who was pitching in a Rays uniform 3 years ago on their first Series run, shut them down wearing Cardinals colors tonight. Only Spencer Torkelson's 6th HR of the postseason kept the Rays from being shut out tonight. So we head to the Midwest in two days for Game 3, with Matt Manning looking to build on his two excellent postseason starts this year.