Just an unbelievable choke...
I really don't how quite to describe the collapse that the Rays had in Game 7 of the World Series to lose an 8-5 lead going into the 9th inning. The bullpen was brutal again but even worse was the fielding, as you'll notice the final 5 Chicago runs were all unearned. An
Ed Howard error in the 9th would have been the second out and instead it let two runs score.
Landon Knack then gave up a single with men on 2nd and 3rd but
Alex Kirilloff threw the potential go-ahead run out to keep the game tied. After the Rays failed to do anything in the bottom of the 9th,
Matt Cronin had all kinds of trouble in the 10th, loading the bases with two out for none other than Spencer Torkelson. But Cronin got Torkelson to hit an easy grounder to
Wander Franco which should have ended the inning - but Franco's toss to 2nd was wild and the winning runs scored. It was just an incredible combo of relievers putting baserunners on and fielders letting them score at the absolutely worst time ever. Combine yesterday's blown Game 6 with the fact they blew a 3-1 lead in the Series with home games in 6 & 7 and you have a case for the biggest choke in baseball history. So instead of talking about World Series Game 7 hero
Heston Kjerstad (who belted two homers) or the feats of
Kelly Crumpton (2 doubles, a homer and 3 RBI for a playoff total of 7 HR and 20 RBI), we'll instead be talking about the World Series the Rays
literally threw away.
(Personal note: not sure I've ever yelled expletives at my computer as much as I did during this game).