So, the Brewers go down to Tampa Bay, with a 2-0 lead. But each game has been only by the smallest of margins. It’s the first time since 2010 that the World Series has opened with a pair of one-run games. There, Texas beat St. Louis 3-2 in the opener, but the roles were reversed in Game #2, the Cardinals prevailing 2-1. The same split happened in 2002 when it was San Francisco and Anaheim. But you need to go back to 2000 to find the last time the same team won Game 1 and Game 2 by a one-run margin. That was the Yankees, who won Game 4 by one-run too, then finished off the Mets 4-2 in Game 5.
However, there have been four occasions in World Series history where a champion has won ALL four of its games by one run. Two of those were back in the deadball era (both Boston, in 1915 and 1918), but the 1972 A’s and the 1992 Blue Jays both did so. The former World Series had six one-run games in it, the Reds winning the other in an 8-1 blowout. We’ll see what tonight brings, in what feels very much like a “must win” for the Rays.
- Milwaukee Brewers @ Tampa Bay Rays (2-0): 5 pm, FOX