The Rays have reached the point where the season is no longer measured in series momentum or missed opportunities. Tuesday night at Tropicana Field is about staying alive.
Tampa Bay enters Game 4 of the World Series down 3-0 after Milwaukee turned Monday’s Game 3 into a 10-1 rout before a sellout crowd of 40,388. The Rays had been within a run in each of the first two games at American Family Field, but the Brewers left little doubt in the first World Series game played in St. Petersburg.
| World Series | Rays | Brewers |
|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | Lost by 1 run | Won by 1 run |
| Game 2 | Lost by 1 run | Won by 1 run |
| Game 3 | 1 | 10 |
| Series | 0 | 3 |
Griffin Jax will start Game 4 on Tuesday, scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, with Tampa Bay facing elimination. Nick Martinez is expected to be available behind him, and closer Bryan Baker could finally carry a major workload after circumstances kept him out of the first three games.
“It’s not a secret. We’re in a tough spot,” Jax said. “But I think this is a really close-knit group, and I think we’re going to come together strong tomorrow and come out with some pretty strong aggression and momentum.”
The Game 3 breakdown
Milwaukee starter Robert Gasser made the Rays’ lineup nearly disappear. Yandy Díaz opened the game with a single, and Gasser otherwise retired the minimum through six innings. Tampa Bay’s only run did not arrive until the ninth, when Díaz lined an RBI double to center against Brandon Woodruff, who was making his first appearance in four months.
| Game 3 detail | Result |
|---|---|
| Gasser innings | 6 |
| Rays hits off Gasser | 1 |
| Brewers’ fifth inning | 8 runs |
| Rays’ final scoring play | Díaz RBI double in ninth |
Freddy Peralta and Cam Booser absorbed the damage in Milwaukee’s eight-run fifth. It marked only the third time all season that the Rays surrendered at least eight runs in one inning. The other instances came in the sixth inning on Opening Day in St. Louis and in the 10th inning against Miami on May 16.
“Of course, we don’t want to start the World Series like that, behind 3-0, but we still have the chance,” Peralta said. “We’ve got two more games here, and we can make it happen.”
The immediate task will not get easier. Tampa Bay must find a way through a rested Milwaukee bullpen led in leverage spots by Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill.
A chair at the table
Manager Kevin Cash framed the assignment in simple terms. There is no path forward except one win, then another.
“It’s kind of that ‘chip and a chair’ mentality,” Cash said. “We’ve got a seat at the table. We’ve got to do something with the chip. Obviously, the only thing we can do is win tomorrow.”
The historical odds are unforgiving. Clubs holding a 3-0 advantage in best-of-seven postseason series have finished the job 42 times in 43 tries, with 33 sweeps. Milwaukee itself recently swept the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
Only two teams have pushed a series to Game 7 after falling behind 3-0: the 2004 Red Sox, who completed their comeback against the Yankees in the ALCS, and the 2020 Astros, who forced a seventh game against the Rays in the ALCS. No World Series club has even reached Game 6 after losing its first three games.
“All you can do is just take it one pitch at a time, backs against the wall,” shortstop Taylor Walls said. “Nobody’s expecting you to win at this point, so just play free, go out there, do what you can to survive the at-bat, win the pitch and see what happens at the end of it.”
More than one problem
The Rays arrived here after a regular season that exceeded outside expectations and postseason series wins over the Yankees and Guardians, earning the third American League pennant in franchise history. But their World Series trouble has come from every direction: quiet bats, pitchers allowing too much traffic and defense that has been uncharacteristically careless.
“They’re doing everything extremely well, so credit to them,” Díaz said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “And unfortunately, things aren’t really going well for us.”
That leaves Tampa Bay with no room to search for a broad solution. The Rays need sharper innings from Jax and whoever follows him, cleaner defense, and enough offense to force Milwaukee to work.
“The same mentality that we’ve had this entire time is to win,” Junior Caminero said through Vera. “We just have to come back tomorrow and do our best to win the game.”
For one more night, the Rays still have a game on their schedule. That is the human fact inside a 3-0 deficit: the clubhouse has not been asked to accept an ending yet. It has been asked to win Tuesday.
