See ya next year...
The Rays might be sipping (or at least wearing) champagne right now if not for the failings of their bullpen - instead they're heading home to St. Pete to clean out their lockers after another crushing loss to the Astros in the ALCS. They fought back from 3-0 on a trio of homers capped by
Bobby Marin's solo shot in the 7th which put them up 4-3 but
Jadon Smith channeled George Frazier circa 1981 by losing his third game of the series; perhaps asking a second inning from him was too much. Once again that man Patrick Upchurch (unsurprisingly named series MVP) did us in with a 2-run double off Smith to put Houston back on top for good.
Joe Stack's second homer of the game made it semi-interesting in the 9th but Tampa Bay came up short again. No shame in losing to the best team in baseball this year I guess, but it's kind of galling that it was a result of what was supposed to be team's strength with the two star closers signed for big free agent deals.