Wait 'til next year...
The Rays will not be defending their World Series title this year as they fell to the Angels 9-2 to drop the ALCS in 6 games, just as they did in 2022 when we also ended up with a Freeway Series. The Rays held a 2-0 lead on a pair of
Hunter Bishop RBI singles and
Dustin May was cruising, but ran out of gas in the 6th, leaving with 2 on and 2 out on 92 pitches with one run in. But
Pete Fairbanks poured gasoline on the fire, giving up a single to load the bases and then yielding a grand slam to Max Stassi, whom with all due respect isn't one of the Angels' real threats. That made it 5-2, and then Fairbanks and
Aaron Fletcher stunk up the joint in the 7th, allowing 4 more runs to put the game out of reach. With the bullpen blowing 2 games in this series, it could have been a 4-2 Rays series win instead. And this happened too, although it was before the lead was lost, not after:
His tantrum came in the 4th when he made the final out after the Rays had scored a run but had a runner thrown out at the plate, a call Duran must have been upset about as well.