The Rays turned Tuesday night into survival theater.
Down to their final three outs in the bottom of the 12th, Tampa Bay clawed back from the brink with a rally that flipped the World Series on its head and forced the championship to a fifth game for a 14th straight season. What had looked like a Brewers closeout turned into a missed opportunity, and the late innings belonged completely to the Rays.
The break came when Joey Ortiz’s throwing error let Junior Caminero reach base against Antonio Senzatela, who was then pulled by Pat Murphy. That move appeared to have been part of the plan from the start.
By the time Shane Drohan was asked to secure the last three outs of the World Series, the Brewers were already in trouble. He never got one.
Tampa Bay pieced together four straight singles, beginning with Liam Hicks’ hit that pushed a hobbled Caminero to third. Jonny DeLuca, who had come up short in a game-ending at-bat earlier in the series, chopped a ball up the middle to tie it.
Chandler Simpson then kept the rally alive and loaded the bases for Ben Williamson with no outs. With the pressure shifted and the game suddenly there to be won, Williamson chopped one into right field for the finish, and the Brewers never recorded an out in the inning.
It was a stunning reversal. Milwaukee’s bullpen had been tasked with protecting a championship, but instead the late innings unraveled. The Rays, meanwhile, used the kind of small-ball sequence that can feel old-fashioned until it’s beating you.
What happens next is still unwritten. But if Tampa Bay wins Wednesday, it would become the first team in World Series history to force a Game 6 after falling behind 3-0. Standing in the way is Jacob Misiorowski.
In Other News...
Taylor Walls Delivered A Defiant Rays Message After That Walk-Off Win
After the Rays pulled out a walk-off win over the Brewers in the World Series, the postgame conversation quickly shifted from the final swing to the bigger picture. MLB insider Ken Rosenthal asked shortstop Taylor Walls whether getting just one victory was meaningful because it showed Tampa Bay could hang with Milwaukee, a line of questioning that underscored how much respect the Brewers have earned in the matchup.
Walls did not love the premise, making it clear he thought the question missed the point of how the Rays view themselves. Tampa Bay has no interest in treating one win like proof of parity, because the belief inside the room is that the series is still there to be won, and the group is determined to keep competing against a Milwaukee club it still recognizes as a formidable opponent. [Read more 🡒]
Rays World Series Exit Leaves One Brutal Question About Their Big 3
The Rays run to the 2026 World Series ended with a familiar kind of frustration, the kind that lingers because Tampa Bay was never far from a breakthrough, yet never quite got the big hit to flip the series. Milwaukee closed things out with a 4-1 win in Game 5, and the Rays spent much of the matchup chasing the Brewers pace after Drew Rasmussen took the ball on short rest against a lineup that kept forcing them into uncomfortable swings.
What makes the exit sting even more is how little production Tampa Bay got from the middle of its order. Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero never found their groove over the series, and the Rays now head into the offseason with one brutal question hanging over the clubs future: when the pressure was highest, where did the offense from its core go? [Read more 🡒]
Rays' Remarkable Run Ended Where Their Biggest Flaw Finally Surfaced
For a Rays team that spent the season winning at an American League-best pace and then stormed through October to claim the pennant, the final test arrived with little margin for error. After digging into a 3-0 hole, Tampa Bay needed its offense to come alive against Milwaukee, but the bats never produced enough pressure to extend the season or change the feel of the series.
The Brewers closed it out with a 4-1 win in Game 5, ending the Rays remarkable run and securing the first championship in Milwaukee history. What lingered most was how familiar the problem became over five games, as Tampa Bay managed only 12 runs and struggled to come through with runners in scoring position, the one flaw that finally caught up with a team that had otherwise done so much right. [Read more 🡒]