ST. PETERSBURG - The Tampa Bay Rays return to Tropicana Field on Monday night facing a 2-0 World Series deficit against the Milwaukee Brewers, needing a win to avoid becoming the 12th team in best-of-seven Fall Classic history to be swept after dropping the first two games on the road.
Game 3 is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET and airs on FOX and FOX Deportes, with streaming available on FOX One. Of the 57 teams to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series, 46 — 80.7% — have gone on to win the Fall Classic, including 45 of 55 in best-of-seven formats.
The Rays will send right-hander Freddy Peralta to the mound — their ALCS MVP, nicknamed “Fastball Freddy” — against Milwaukee left-hander Robert Gasser. Peralta is 7-0 with a 0.89 ERA in his last 10 games, including nine starts, since Aug. 26. At Tropicana Field specifically, Peralta has posted a 1.45 ERA with 31 strikeouts and 14 walks in 37 1/3 innings over seven starts since joining Tampa Bay at the trade deadline.
Gasser, who began the season at Triple-A Nashville, is 2-0 with a 1.51 ERA in eight appearances since Aug. 26 across the regular season and postseason. He has allowed just one run in nine innings over his two postseason starts, including the clinching Game 4 of the NLDS against the Padres and Game 3 of the NLCS against the Dodgers.
The two-game margin in the Series run differential — the Rays trail by just two runs across both games — has done little to ease the psychological weight of the deficit. Tampa Bay has compounded its losses with unnecessary baserunning outs and uncharacteristic defensive mistakes.
Milwaukee rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt, whose seventh-inning RBI single was the deciding blow in Game 2, captured the Brewers’ mindset heading into the Rays’ home park. “As long as there’s game left, we have a chance, and I think we’ve all bought into that,” Pratt said. “We’re never out of it, and anytime there’s still innings on the board and we still got at-bats, we still have a chance, especially with this bullpen and these guys, man, it’s special.”
The Milwaukee bullpen has been a dominant force throughout the postseason. Brewers relievers carry a 1.24 ERA through the first 10 games, and the team has recorded eight saves this postseason — the most by any team since the save became an official statistic in 1969. Left-hander Aaron Ashby has not allowed a run in 15 2/3 innings this postseason. Closer Trevor Megill was held out of Game 2 entirely after Ashby locked down a five-out save.
Offensively, Milwaukee outfielder Jackson Chourio tallied two hits and two stolen bases in Game 2, making him the third player under the age of 23 with multiple hits and multiple steals in a single postseason game, joining Ty Cobb in Game 3 of the 1908 World Series and Elvis Andrus in Game 2 of the 2010 ALCS. Catcher William Contreras leads all players in this postseason with 15 hits and carries a 1.135 OPS across 10 games.
For Tampa Bay, Victor Mesa Jr. is batting .162 with a .487 OPS this month, and Ben Williamson is 1-for-12 in the postseason. The Rays overcame a 2-1 deficit in the ALCS against the Guardians by winning three consecutive games, a precedent the club will need to replicate beginning Monday night at The Trop.