Arozarena, Rays ready for Series
By now, every baseball fan has heard of remarkable rookie Randy Arozarena. They’re fast becoming familiar with his World Series-bound Rays teammates, too.
“Yousit here andlook 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,” outfielder Kevin Kiermaier said.
They kept doing that in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series on Saturday night in SanDiego.
Arozarena homered again, 36-year-old Charlie Morton was brilliant against his former team and the Rays silenced the Astros 4-2 to reach the World Series for just the second time.
The World Series starts Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.
Right fielder Manuel Margot squeezed Aledmys Diaz’s flyball in his glove for the final out and fireworks burst overhead as the Rays began to celebrate theALpennant in an NL ballpark, a byproduct of the pandemic-shortened season.
“If youdon’tknowthename bynow, they better learn them, because we’ve we got some boys who can play,” said Kiermaier, the Rays’ longest-tenured player.
That would start with Arozarena, above left, who set a rookie record with his seventh home run — a two-run shot in the first — and was chosen ALCSMVP.
“Randy Arozarena, I don’t have any words to describe what he’s done, what he’s meant to us this postseason,” managerKevin 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 didme.”
Arozarena, 25, a relative unknown before the postseason, has brought power to the Rays.
The innovative Rays led the AL with a 40-20 record in the pandemic-shortened season.
The Rays’ only otherWorld Series appearance was in 2008, when it lost to the Phillies in five games.