Latest / Tampa Bay Rays Weekly / Tampa Bay Rays Game Review — Oct 26, 2026: 1-10 vs Milwaukee Brewers

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Tampa Bay Rays Game Review — Oct 26, 2026: 1-10 vs Milwaukee Brewers · Tampa Bay Rays Weekly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Alright Rays fans, I need a drink before we get
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: into this one and honestly I have been dreading this
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: broadcast for the last hour. Welcome to the Post Game Show,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Mike Michelson and if you're still sitting there processing
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: what happened at Tropicana Field tonight, I want you to
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: know that I feel the same way. We are going
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to talk through this 10-1 World Series loss to Milwaukee.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to try to find words that do
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: not make me feel like I'm talking into a void.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: But we are in this together, even when it hurts
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: this much. Let me start where your mind probably went
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the moment that fifth inning ended. Eight runs, all of
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: them with two outs already recorded. A World Series record
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: for two outruns in a single inning. Seven consecutive hits
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: at one point, which set or tied a postseason record,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: depending on who you ask. And not a single home
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: run in the entire fifth. Just base hits, ground balls,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: singles and doubles strung together like a machine that would
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: not stop. But here is the moment I keep replaying
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: in my head because I think it defines this game
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: more than any swing. It was a forced play at
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: second base that was initially called an out. The inning
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: should have been over. Replay confirmed the runner was safe.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Bases loaded. And from that point forward, everything just unraveled
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: in a way that felt almost cinematic in how awful
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: it was to watch. Let me give you some context
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: before that because I think it matters. Freddy Peralta was
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: not terrible for the first four and two-thirds of his start.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: He gave up two runs in the third on RBI
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: singles from Yelich and Contreras, and that second run came
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: because Victor Mesa Jr. did not feel the line drive
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: cleanly off the hop in right field. You know how
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: it goes. A bad hop, a runner scoring from second,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you shake your head and move on. 2-0 at home,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: crowd still engaged. Then the fifth arrived, and Freddie could
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: not get out of it. He got into trouble, and
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: once Milwaukee started hitting, they never stopped. Terang single with
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: two outs to open the barrage. Mitchell followed with a single.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Pratt doubled, and I want to flag that one because
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: it was deflected by Junior Caminero at third base. At
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: our return, what might have been a single into a double,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and two runners scored instead of one. Freelick doubled. Hamilton single.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Trurio doubled to cap it off. Eight runs, every single
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: one of them came with two outs already on the board.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Then Cam Busa came in and just dissolved. Four runs
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: on four hits without recording a single out, 12 pitches total.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: That is not a pitching change. That is a surrender.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I know Busa has done good work this postseason, and
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: I'm not here to pile on a guy who is
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: clearly young. But the coaching staff made a decision, and
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: it was the wrong one, and it cost us whatever
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: slim chance we had to make this game competitive. I
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: want to give Robert Gasser his due because he was
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: genuinely special tonight. Six shutout innings, one hit, faced the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: minimum batters. That is a World Series feat that has
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: not been accomplished by a left-handed pitcher since Sandy Koufax
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: in 1965. You can be frustrated that he was on
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the other side of the mound, but you have to
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: respect what he did. The Rays finished with three hits
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: total on the night. Three. Milwaukee had 16. And then
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: there is Jackson Shurio. The kid is 22 years old
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: and he is playing like a veteran having a career year.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Four for five tonight. Two runs scored, a double, a
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: stolen base. Two of those hits came during that fifth
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: inning massacre. He now has eight hits through three games
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: of this World Series. Eight hits in three games against
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Tampa Bay. I'm not going to pretend we had an
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: answer for him all night because we did not. Brandon
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Woodruff threw the ninth. He had not pitched since July
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: and here he was on the mound at Tropicana Field
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: getting applause from the traveling Milwaukee fans. I felt a
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: little bad for him not getting a perfect inning, but honestly,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: by that point everyone in that building was running on fumes,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: including me. Now let us be fair about our own
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: offense because I need to give credit where it is
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: due even in a loss like this. Yandy Diaz had
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: two of our three hits, including a double in the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: ninth that drove in Cedric Mullins for our lone run.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: That is it. That was our offense in Game 3
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: of the World Series. Bye. Bye. One run against a
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Milwaukee pitching staff that threw four different arms. You cannot
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: win a baseball game with three hits, let alone a
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: World Series game, let alone when the other team is
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: playing with this much confidence. Chandler Simpson got caught stealing
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: in the first inning after his slide carried him off
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: second base. I remember thinking at the time, that is unlucky,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: that is just a play. Do not let it get
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: in your head. But when you combine it with everything
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: else that went wrong, it becomes part of the picture
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: of a team that was just not on the same
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: page all night. Here is where we stand, down 0-3
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: in this World Series. And I have to say it
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: plainly because you deserve honesty from me tonight. No team
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: in the history of the World Series has come back
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: from a 3-0 deficit. Not once in the entire history
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: of the Fall Classic. It has happened only once in
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: a seven-game postseason series, and that was the 2004 Red
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Sox against the Yankees in the ALCS. Different circumstances, different opponent,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: different momentum. I am not going to tell you it
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: is impossible because I'm a Rays fan and we have
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: heard the word impossible before. But I also cannot pretend
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: this is the same situation as 2004. Milwaukee is playing
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the best baseball of their franchise history right now. Eight
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: straight postseason wins, tying the record for a single postseason run.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: They have momentum, they have confidence, and they just put
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: up eight runs on us in a single inning at
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: our own ballpark. They are the better team tonight, and
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: I think it would be dishonest to say otherwise. So
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: what do we do? We go to Milwaukee. Game four
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: is there, and we need to win it. Not because
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: it changes the mathematical odds of this series in any
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: meaningful way, but because we need to win one game.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Because zero to four is a different kind of nightmare
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: than one to three. Because these players deserve to play
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: with some pride, and we deserve to see them fight
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: for one more game. I am not going to sugarcoat tonight.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: It was painful. It was embarrassing in parts. And I
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: think it is okay for us to feel all of
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: those things without trying to spin something positive out of
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: a 10-1 loss where we struck out five times, had
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: three hits, and committed an error that changed the momentum
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: of a World Series game. But I'm Mike Michelson, and
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: I will be here tomorrow night when we do it
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: all again, because that is what we do. We show up,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: we talk about it, and we watch the Rays try
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: to play baseball one more time. Until then, Take care
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: of yourselves. And if you're out there with a drink tonight,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: I'm raising mine to you. See you tomorrow.