This is going to hurt...
The Rays knew coming in it was going to be the longest of shots, needing to win three straight against the Dodgers starting with one against their ace Maddux Bruns. Still they got the better of the matchup between the two likely Cy Youngs as
Waylin Santana was excellent and they held a 3-1 lead thanks to a couple of homers off Bruns. And even though the Dodgers' Brian Reynolds hit a 3-run homer off
Jack Perkins in relief to give LA a 4-3 lead,
Luisangel Acuna homered to tie it up as part of one of the most heroic World Series performances of all-time, going 5-5 with a walk, the game-tying homer and 5(!) stolen bases. On to extras we went and the Rays finally broke through in the 13th after Acuna's 5th hit and stolen base led to the go-ahead run. But the decision was made not to push the struggling
Camilo Doval to a third inning of work and
Garrett Cleavinger and
Hayden Juenger were not up to the task, loading the bases with the Dodgers' Steve Cooper delivering a Series-winning 2-run single off Juenger. This year's Rays fought hard and got farther than any team before them in this save, but the brass ring still eludes them.