HOUSTON _ Everyone wanted to know how the Rays did it.
How did a team with few stars and no money win 96 games in the American League East? How did a team with a decimated starting rotation hang on long enough in September to outlast the Indians for the second AL wild card?
The answer was always very simple.
The Rays were smarter than most. Instead of chasing names like they were in a fantasy league, they found players who filled specific roles. And they focused on run prevention in a year when offenses were exploding.
The result is the Rays flat-out owned mediocre teams.
And struggled against the best teams.
Really, that's all we're seeing now in the American League Division Series. The Astros are a better team. A much better team. It may look like the Rays are falling over themselves or choking, but it was always going to be an uphill battle against a team with great pitching.
"I certainly don't see a team that's (failing)," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Our guys are playing their asses off, our hitters are just getting out-pitched."
Think of it this way:
The Rays were 80-42 (.656) against teams that did not make the AL postseason.
And they were 16-24 (.400) against the other four playoff teams.
In other words, don't expect a comeback.
The Rays may have shown some fight in the ninth inning of a 3-1 Game 2 loss Saturday night. They had the go-ahead run on base with one out against a shaky Houston bullpen. But you can't live forever on the edge and expect a positive result.
"We don't feel out of it by any means," said infielder Joey Wendle. "We know we have to win the next three games, but we beat these guys three in a row in the first week of the season. We know it's doable, and we have a pretty good pitcher going for us on Monday."
Still, history says the end is near. Common sense says it's banging on the door.
Teams do not often recover from an 0-2 start in a best-of-five series. When you lose the first two games on the road, the odds are roughly 7-to-1 that you're a goner. And, presumably, it's even worse when the other team has a backlog of Cy Young Award contenders.
That's basically the story of the series so far. Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole are better than any pitchers the Rays have, and they are a heck of a lot better than most of Tampa Bay's hitters.
"You've seen the resiliency. The ability to bounce back. We've had that all year," said outfielder Austin Meadows. "We're not getting down when our backs are against the wall. Obviously being down 2-0 is a tough challenge, but we'll come out Monday and see what we've got."
You could have used Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow in the same game, and they still would not have beaten Verlander or Cole. Between them, the Rays' Games 1 and 2 starters threw 7.2 innings and gave up three runs. Cole and Verlander went 14.2 shutout innings and only allowed one runner to reach to second base.
Cash knew his club was in trouble even before Game 2 started Saturday night, and he reacted accordingly. He gave up some of Tampa Bay's precious defense by putting a hobbled Yandy Diaz at third base so Avisail Garcia could start in rightfield (with Tommy Pham moving to designated hitter). The result? Diaz and Garcia combined to go 0-for-8 with four strikeouts and didn't hit a ball out of the infield.
Cash even used closer Emilio Pagan in the seventh to keep the score 1-0, but Pagan gave up a couple of hits and an unearned run. Cash even tried putting Willy Adames in motion to stay out of a double-play, but Diaz struck out and Adames was thrown out easily at second.
There are only so many risks you can take when the other team has its foot on your throat.
In retrospect, this isn't terribly unusual. The Rays have now dropped 9 of their past 11 games in the ALDS, dating to 2010.
And the story lines are all very similar. Years ago, the Rays were riding the backs of David Price, Matt Garza and James Shields. Or Price, Shields and Jeremy Hellickson. Or Price, Matt Moore, Alex Cobb and Chris Archer.
Pitching has always been the answer for the Rays in the regular season, and hitting has usually been the culprit in the postseason. Game 2 was no different. Cole was quite literally averaging two strikeouts an inning. I swear I even saw Kelly Shoppach strike out a couple of times. The Rays have scored two runs or less in 7 of their last 15 games in the ALDS. They've scored three runs or less in 9 of those 15 games.
The point is pitching isn't quite enough in the postseason. When the Rays reached the World Series in 2008, they had two legitimate middle-of-the-order bats in Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena. This lineup has Meadows and a bunch of guys who are pretty good.
Is there a solution?
Beefing up on hitters is the obvious answer. But a lineup of dangerous bats can be quite expensive, which is why the Rays have always focused on run prevention instead. The Rays did chase free agents such as Nelson Cruz and DJ LeMahieu in the offseason but didn't offer enough cash to swing the deals.
Do you suppose they have any money for hitters in Montreal?
