The Rays Came Up Short in the World Series Again. Now Comes the Hardest Offseason in Baseball
Tampa Bay lost the World Series to Milwaukee in five games — the club's second Fall Classic defeat — and the offseason opened Sunday with a championship core to protect and a labor stoppage looming on December 1.
St. Petersburg — The confetti fell for somebody else. The Tampa Bay Rays lost the World Series to the Milwaukee Brewers in five games, falling short in the Fall Classic for the second time while Milwaukee — a franchise-record 103 wins, an 11-2 playoff run — celebrated the first championship in its history.
The Rays were not swept: they eked out an extra-inning win in Game 4 to extend the series before Milwaukee closed it out. Brewers catcher William Contreras was named World Series MVP after hitting .381 with four RBIs and throwing out four would-be base stealers. Milwaukee held its parade on Friday, and its celebration rolled into the weekend while Tampa Bay's front office turned to the questions that now define the winter.
The first question is the core. The Rays have won at least 98 games in three of the past six seasons on one of baseball's best player-development operations, and both World Series clubs now face the same decision: how much of a championship-caliber roster to keep together. The second question hangs over the whole sport — baseball's collective bargaining agreement expires at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on December 1, and a work stoppage of some length is widely expected, which could freeze the very moves Tampa Bay needs to make.
The offseason calendar opened Sunday, November 1, with the Gold Glove announcements and free agency filing in the days immediately after the final out. For the Rays, the winter starts with a familiar ache — close enough to see the trophy, again — and a front office that has made a habit of answering it.
