One thing the Rays showed over the second half of the season is that this version of the team can hit, and they demonstrated it today at Tropicana Field in the opener. Houston took a 4-1 lead in the 4th off a shaky Shane McClanahan and in years past that might have been a death sentence for the team but they came back and put 12 on the board in the bottom of the inning and went on to a 16-5 rout of the Astros. It was a team effort led by Brandon Lowe with everyone in the lineup contributing except ironically the team's best player in Wander Franco.
Game 2:
For all the world it looked like the Astros would even up the series going back to Houston as once again a Rays starter struggled and for the second straight game they faced a 4-1 deficit. This one took longer to come back from, but come back they did off Houston closer Ryan Pressly, tying it in the 8th with a big 2-run triple from Miguel Vargas, and walking it off in the 9th on Yandy Diaz's homer. They now have a chance to go to Houston and sweep.
Game 3:
And sweep they did as Jose Siri had a huge game against his former team and they overcame another shaky start from a starter and overwhelmed the Astros with 10 runs, scoring 31 in total over the 3-game sweep. The Rays will now face Minnesota in the ALCS after they disposed of Texas:
Over in the NL we'll have a rematch of last year's NLDS:
