Heartbreak...
In the end they came up one run short. In a World Series for the ages in which 5 of the 7 games were decided by one run and the other two were decided by two, it was Tampa Bay which came up on the short end of the stick in Game 7. And the tying run was there for the taking - after Paul Mayes and Henry Dominguez doubled in the 9th to cut Pittsburgh's lead to one, there was only one out but David Morales (in likely his final at-bat as a Ray) flied out to right and the team's superstar Jesus Avalos grounded to second and there was no joy in Mudville, er Tampa. And though it wasn't explicit in the recap above, former Ray Kang-cheol Lee was named Series MVP as Lee capped a great series by homering today off Elijah Whitaker, who just couldn't get it done tonight.
Most of this crew should be back for 2057 except for Morales (who's been in decline and will cost too much) and 5 of the 6 top relievers in the bullpen (save Devin Tadlock) so that will be a major offseason focus which I'll address in the State of the Team post coming soon.