Latest / Tampa Bay Rays Weekly / Tampa Bay Rays Game Review — Oct 28, 2026: 1-4 vs Milwaukee Brewers

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Tampa Bay Rays Game Review — Oct 28, 2026: 1-4 vs Milwaukee Brewers · Tampa Bay Rays Weekly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. It's Mike Michelson, and I'm not going to
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: sugarcoat this one. We just got eliminated from the World
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Series Game 5, final score 4-1. Milwaukee wins the championship,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and we are going home in October. I know. Trust me.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I felt it, too. That last out when Richie Palacios
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: grounded to first and Trevor Meggle threw his arms up
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: like he'd been waiting his entire career for that moment,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: and you just kind of slumped in your chair and thought,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: that's it. That's the season. The 2026 World Series is
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: over and we were on the wrong side of it.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: And I want to be honest with you, not bitter,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: just clear-eyed. Milwaukee earned this. They were the better team
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in this series. Four games to one, they led the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: league with 103 wins in the regular season, went 11-2
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: in the postseason, swept the Dodgers in the NLCS. They
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: came to our building tonight and played the kind of
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: baseball that wins championships. But that doesn't mean it doesn't
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: hurt like hell to watch it happen. And it doesn't
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: mean we shouldn't talk about how we got here. So
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: let's sit in it together for a minute. We started
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Drew Rasmussen, which made sense on paper. He's our guy
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: when you need innings, a veteran arm to set the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: tone in a big game. And honestly, for about four innings,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: he did his job. Four frames, one run allowed, two hits,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: four strikeouts. That's a quality start by any reasonable standard.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: but he didn't get out of the second inning without trouble,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: and that trouble was Cooper Pratt. I have to talk
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: about Cooper Pratt because this kid is 22 years old,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: and he just did something that has never been done
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: in Major League Baseball history. He got a hit in
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: six consecutive at-bats during this World Series. Six at-bats consecutive.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: No rookie has ever done that in 120-something years of
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: professional baseball, and Cooper Pratt walked into our ballpark and
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: made it look routine. His line drive single in the
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: second to center, DeLuca backpedaled and just watched it drop.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: That was the first run of game five and the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: beginning of the end for our pitching staff tonight. And
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: here's what makes this so painful to watch as a
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Rays fan. We decided strategically to go with the bullpen
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: approach tonight. Seven different pitchers in nine innings. The thinking
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: was if you can't get enough from one starter, lean
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: on your depth. Use the versatility of this organization. I
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: get it in theory. But here's what actually happened. Garrett
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Clevenger came in and gave up two runs in one-third
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: of an inning, one out. That's it. Kevin Kelly followed
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: and gave up a run three hits in two-thirds of
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a frame, and suddenly the game that was 1-0 through
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: 5 became 4-0, and we were chasing. You cannot chase
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: in a World Series elimination game. A crowd of over 40,000
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: at Tropicana was getting quiet, and you could feel the
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: life draining out of the building with each new pitcher
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: who came in and couldn't get a quick out. The
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: one reliever who did have a clean moment was Brian
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Baker who retired the heart of their order in order
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: for one inning just won. We reminded ourselves this bullpen
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: can actually do its job. Steven Matz threw a clean
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: scoreless frame later. Ian Seymour struck out two in an
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: inning of work late, but by then it was already over.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: You can't get excited about a clean frame from your
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: seventh reliever when you're down 4-0 with two innings to go.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: And then there's the pitching side of things. Jacob Miziorowski, oh,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: what a problem this kid is. Five and two-thirds scoreless innings,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: just two hits allowed, one walk, and the velocity. I
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: need you to understand what these people were dealing with
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: at the plate. In one inning alone, 21 of his
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: 22 pitches clocked over 100 miles per hour, 21 out
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: of 22. His fastest was 103, not once but twice
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: to Junior Caminero in the first. Caminero, who's had a
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: fantastic season for us, just watched one go by him.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: You cannot plan for that. You cannot prepare your hitters
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: for a 72-inch frame throwing gas like it's nothing, never
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: walking anyone, just painting and overpowering. He left the game
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: in the sixth with a leg cramp, which felt like
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: the only crack in the armor. And even then, Trevor
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: McGill came in and closed the door with two full
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: innings of one-hit relief. The only good thing I can
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: tell you about this game is that we finally woke
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: up in the ninth. And I have to use the
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: word finally because our offense was sound asleep until then.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Four hits total on the night. Liam Hicks doubled in
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the ninth on a fluky bounce that caught the corner
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: of first base and ricocheted into foul territory. A weird one,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: but the ball got through and he went to second.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Then Chandler Simpson hit a line drive double, a real one,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: three for the season in this series and scored Hicks.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: That made it four to one, a little life in
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the building for a moment. But then Mago got Palacios
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: to ground out and it was over. You don't need
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: a rally in the ninth against a closer who throws
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: like that. You needed runs in the third, fourth, fifth.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: You needed an identity. And what does this mean going forward?
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I think the answer is complicated. We got to the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: World Series. That's not nothing. That's a real achievement. And
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: a lot of teams were killed to be in our
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: position right now. We're young, we're cheap, and we're still
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: building towards something. But Milwaukee showed us tonight what the
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: next level looks like. They've been to 11 post-seasons in
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: 26 years and never won this thing, and now they have.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: They were disciplined, physical, deep, and their one young phenom
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: delivered when it mattered. They didn't hit a single home
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: run tonight, not one. All four runs came off singles, doubles,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and a sacrifice fly. That small ball executed perfectly. We're
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: going to be back, I believe that. The pieces are here.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: The young core is still young, and the farm system
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: doesn't stop producing. But tonight, in this building with 40,000
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: people watching, we were outplayed and outmatched. It wasn't close
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: enough to even make us angry. It was just the
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: quiet kind of disappointment that tells you there's work to
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: do in the offseason. Work on making this lineup sting.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Work on making the bullpen less fragile. Work on figuring
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: out how to hit a 100-mile-an-hour fastball from someone who's
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: never walked anyone. That's the homework. For now, tip your
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: cap to Milwaukee. They earned it all, every single one
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: of them, from Yellich honoring Bob Uecker to Contreras being
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: named World Series MVP to a 22-year-old kid making history
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: in our ballpark. They deserve this moment. But I don't
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: have to enjoy it, and I don't think you do either.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: This one stings, and I respect you all for sticking
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: with me through it. Get some rest tonight. It's going
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: to be a long offseason. I'll see you on the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: other side. This is Mike Michelson signing off from Tropicana Field.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Go Rays. We'll be back.