Rays’ fame grows on way to World Series

SAN DIEGO — By now, every baseball fan has heard of remarkable rookie Randy Arozarena. With the Tampa Bay Rays bound for the World Series, they’re fast becoming familiar with his teammates, too.

Kevin Kiermaier, a 30-yearold outfielder who made his MLB debut in 2013, has spent his entire career with the franchise and is the team’s longest tenured player, has enjoyed a close- up view of the seemingly overnight stardom for the group.

“You sit here and look at this group of guys, and I always say we don’t have a lot of household names, but at the same time, people are making a name for themselves right now,” Kiermaier said.

They kept doing that in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday night.

Arozarena homered again, 36- year- old Charlie Morton was brilliant against his former team and the Rays silenced the Houston Astros 4-2 to reach the World Series for just the second time in the history of a franchise that first took the field in 1998.

The Rays will face either the Atlanta Braves or the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series in Arlington, Texas, starting Tuesday night. Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, which was set for an 8:15 Eastern first pitch Sunday night in Arlington, was not complete at press time. Please visit timesfreepress.com for coverage.

In the Game 7 that concluded late Saturday, Manuel Margot squeezed Aledmys Diaz’s fly ball in his glove for the final out, and fireworks burst overhead as the Rays began to celebrate the AL pennant in an NL ballpark, the neutral- site championship series a byproduct of the coronavirus-altered season.

“If you don’t know the name by now, they better learn them, because we’ve we got some boys who can play,” Kiermaier said.

That would start with Arozarena, who set a rookie record with his seventh home run of

the playoffs — a two- run shot in the first inning off Lance McCullers Jr. at the San Diego Padres’ Petco Park — and was chosen MVP of the ALCS.

“I don’t have any words to describe what he’s done, what he’s meant to us this postseason,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “For him to have a bat in his hand with an opportunity for a big home run, really, I think it settled a lot of people in the dugout. It certainly did me.”

Arozarena, relatively unknown before the postseason, has brought power and some serious dance moves to the Rays.

“I wouldn’t say I was chasing MVP, but I was just trying to do everything for the team, anything to allow us to win,” the 25-yearold left fielder who was born in Cuba said through a translator.

Arozarena did soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous goal celebration after his homer and again after receiving the MVP award. Eight nights earlier, he threw down a breakdancing move to win a dance-off with Brett Phillips as the Rays celebrated a Game 5 victory to win their AL Division Series against the New York Yankees.

Tampa Bay’s only other World Series appearance was in 2008, when it lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.

Known for their pitching and defense, the innovative Rays led the AL with a 40-20 record during the shortened regular season. Two years ago they introduced the concept of the opener — a bullpen pitcher who begins the game, as opposed to a starter, and isn’t expected to go nearly as long — and sometimes they deploy a four-man outfield.

Tampa Bay snapped a three-game losing streak and prevented the Astros from matching the 2004 Boston Red Sox, the only Major League Baseball team to rally from a 3-0 deficit to win a seven-game postseason series.

“The last three days were pretty agonizing,” Cash said.

The Rays also kept the Astros from becoming the first team to win a pennant with a losing regular-season record (29-31).

The loss ended Houston’s first season since its sign-stealing scandal was revealed. The Astros were viewed by many fans as villains for their role in the cheating scandal en route to the 2017 title against the Dodgers, a scam that eventually cost manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow their jobs.

Under new manager Dusty Baker, the Astros were trying to reach the World Series for the third time in four seasons. They lost Game 7 of the Fall Classic to the Washington Nationals last year.

“It’s frustrating, but these guys fought. They fought to the very end,” Baker said. “A lot of people didn’t have us even making the playoffs. … This team is a bunch of fighters with a tremendous amount of perseverance and fortitude. One thing is for sure. We’ll be back in this position next year.”

Mike Zunino homered and drove in two runs for the Rays, who avoided the ignominy of joining the 2004 Yankees, who took a 3-0 lead in the ALCS and lost four straight to the Red Sox. Boston went on to win the World Series for the first time in 86 seasons.

Arozarena has been at the center of the Rays’ playoff perseverance, with his 21 hits just one shy of former Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter’s rookie postseason record set in 1996.

Arozarena defected from Cuba to Mexico in 2015, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2016 and made his MLB debut last year. Traded to Tampa Bay in the offseason, he tested positive for COVID-19 before summer camp and didn’t make his 2020 debut until Aug. 30.

Until he started showing his October power, Arozarena was best known for a gaffe he committed while with the Cardinals. After the Cardinals beat the Braves in their NLDS, he posted manager Mike Schildt’s profane clubhouse rant to social media, not realizing it would receive a negative reaction.

While youth has served the Rays well, Morton showed the value of a veteran as he held the Astros to two hits in 5 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out six and walking one.

He retired 14 straight batters until walking Martin Maldonado with one out in the sixth, then got one more out. Cash pulled Morton after just 66 pitches, long enough for him to become the first major leaguer to earn the victory in four winner-take-all games, including Game 7 of the 2017 World Series and Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS against the Yankees when he was with the Astros.

He signed with Tampa Bay as a free agent before the 2019 season and won a wild-card game at Oakland last year. The Rays were then eliminated by the Astros in the ALDS.