Tampa Bay Rays: Five Takeaways from Game 3 Loss to the Dodgers

Choi’s fielding

Apart from the record-breaking Arozarena blast, there was little to celebrate. However, Ji-Man Choi did produce three pieces of fantastic fielding to cheer up even the most miserable of Rays fans.

His first offering came in the first when Willy Adames’ throw was taken by Choi, while doing the splits, to see off Mookie Betts. It was fantastic athleticism from the South Korean.

Two more pieces of athletic fielding turned less than accurate throws into outs; Betts again and Seagar were the astounded runners.

The wayward throws were symptomatic of a bad night at the office for the Rays’ defense apart from the ever-enthusiastic Choi.

Offense needs more hits

Coming into the World Series, Kevin Cash would have been very aware of the hitting ability of the Dodgers. What would not have been foreseen was the Rays’ inability to cope with quality pitching.

After three games the Rays are being out hit by 25 to 20 and outscored 18 runs to 11. Those statistics do not tell the real story as game two would have improved the position.

Before Tampa Bay can think about Kershaw, they must negotiate Julio Urías. That will be no mean feat as the Mexican is pitching at 0.56 ERA in postseason. In his last outing, he closed out the NLCS for the Dodgers. Urías will not be fearing the Rays’ batters who must try to get some base hits early.