Taylor Walls refused to treat the Tampa Bay Rays’ Game 4 win as a consolation prize. After avoiding a World Series sweep, the Rays infielder made it clear that his team still believes it can win the championship, despite facing a daunting 3-0 deficit. No team in MLB history has ever overturned such a deficit to win the Fall Classic. That confidence was evident when Fox Sports analyst Ken Rosenthal asked Walls whether winning one game was important to prove the Rays belonged on the World Series stage. The question did not sit well with the 30-year-old, who pushed back against the suggestion that the victory was merely a consolation.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“Do you think it was important for you guys to get one just to show that you are on this level?” Walls was asked after Game 4.
“No, I think that is pretty disrespectful, honestly,” Talkin’ Baseball quoted Walls. “We are a team that is capable of winning four. No team wants to get swept. At the end of the day, we think we can win the whole thing. We have full confidence that we can do it.”
Realizing the phrasing heavily implied that the American League champion Rays were vastly inferior or didn’t belong on the World Series stage, Rosenthal quickly apologized mid-interview and later admitted he worded the question poorly. But the damage was already done.
The Rays can still technically win the World Series. Just as the Brewers are effectively one win away from the championship, the Rays are currently three wins away. However, Rosenthal may have courted the question, considering how the Rays were dominated in the first three games.
Despite the apology, the Rays’ Game 3 performance lent some credence to Rosenthal’s question. Milwaukee left-hander Robert Gasser completely baffled Rays hitters, pitching 6 brilliant, scoreless innings and allowing just a single hit. In the top of the 5th inning, with two outs, the Brewers completely broke the game open. They tagged Rays starter Freddy Peralta and the bullpen for a staggering eight runs entirely with two outs.
The Rays looked overmatched in Game 3, then rebounded decisively in Game 4. But while their 30-year-old is confident about keeping up the momentum hereon, history is overwhelmingly against them.
No team in MLB history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series. Out of the 25 previous teams to fall behind 3-0 in the Fall Classic, 21 were swept in Game 4. The other four lost in Game 5. By winning Game 4, the Rays became only the fifth team ever to force a Game 5 after trailing 3-0 in the World Series.
Yet, the Rays can take a leaf out of the Stanley Cup. Notably, in the 1942 Stanley Cup Final, the Toronto Maple Leafs dropped the first three games against the Detroit Red Wings before staging a miraculous four-game surge to capture the title.
Game 5 will answer whether the Rays are going to become the Maple Leafs of MLB, or if the Brewers will follow the trend.