The Tampa Bay Rays are one of baseball's two youngest franchises, and this season was just their second World Series appearance. They lost in five games to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. So when Tuesday rolled around and it was Game 6, it marked the closest Tampa Bay had been to a championship so far. It was objectively the biggest game in franchise history.
The biggest moment of Game 6 came in the sixth inning. That's when Blake Snell got the hook. Afterward, while the Dodgers and all of Los Angeles were celebrating their first title in 32 years, that moment hung over the Rays. It will hang over them and their manager, Kevin Cash, for some time to come.
Through five innings, Snell was about as good as a pitcher can be. He had faced only one batter over the minimum. He had struck out nine Dodgers hitters. He had given up one hit, a Chris Taylor single that was the only hard-hit ball against him in the game. He had thrown only 69 pitches. His team led 1-0 on Randy Arozarena's first-inning home run.