- Gary Shelton writes that the Rays’ win shouldn’t surprise anyone. (St. Petersburg Times)

- Phil Sherdian notes that the Phillies are the definition of tight ball club. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

- Joe Posnanski writes that Rays’ manager Joe Maddon doesn’t do anything halfway. (Kansas City Star)

- Gregg Doyel questions what Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel does all game. (CBS Sports)

- Steve Henson has the story of a Rays fan who stands to win $25,000 if his team can win the World Series. (Yahoo! Sports)

There’s a pretty damning stat out there for teams that drop the opening game of the World Series. The team that was victorious in Game 1 has gone on to capture 63 of the last 103 Series, including 10 of the last 11.

So following their 3-2 loss in Game 1 Wednesday night, one could understand why the Rays would feel pressure to come away with a win over the Phillies in Game 2 on Thursday. Not only were they battling history, but also major inexperience considering their roster is filled with youngsters who have never played in the postseason, nevertheless the World Series.

Not that it was necessarily a must win, but Tampa Bay did come out of Game 2 with a win as they held on to beat Philadelphia 4-2 after mounting a 4-0 lead after the fourth inning. B.J. Upton went 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI to lead the Rays, while starter James Shields pitched 5.2 innings of shutout ball, allowing seven hits and striking out four.

Considering there aren’t any significant stats that apply to Game 2 victories, the Rays’ win might not attract much attention outside of the fact that they have now tied the best of seven series at one game apiece. But being down 0-2 would have been incredibly difficult to overcome, especially when you factor in that Tampa isn’t used to playing in Philly in October.

After losing Game 1 to the more experienced Red Sox in the ALDS, the Rays rattled off three in a row before squandering a 7-0 lead in Game 5 and then dropping Game 6 at home. Coming back after losing Game 1 was impressive, as well as showing the guts to win in Game 7 when they had lost all of the momentum. So it’ll be interesting to see if the young Rays can continue to show how resilient they are this postseason after facing some adversity. Their Game 2 victory Thursday night was huge.

Before the World Series, ESPN.com hired a company to determine which team had the best probability of winning.

Unsurprisingly, the Rays came out on top.

We previously employed our Diamond Mind simulation software to project the results of the League Division and Championship Series. In the American League, we projected the Rays to easily defeat the White Sox, most likely in four games, and the Angels to defeat the Red Sox, but only if they could win Game 1. In the NLDS, our simulations projected the Phillies to defeat the Brewers, most likely in four games, and the Dodgers to upset the Cubs. The Phillies and Rays easily dispatched their opponents in four games, the Dodgers did indeed upset the favored Cubbies, and the Red Sox won that crucial opening game and went on to eliminate the Angels.

As we noted in our previous articles for ESPN.com, luck plays an even greater role in a short series than the regular season, which itself can be rather unpredictable. With that caveat in mind, the results of our simulations project the Tampa Bay Rays to continue their “Cinderella” run and defeat the Phillies. In fact, Tampa Bay won over 71 percent of our 2,000 series simulations, the largest winning margin of any postseason projection we’ve done for ESPN.com.

Not a good start there, Diamond Mind.

- Bob Ford sings the praises of a very calm Cole Hamels. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

- John Romano urges the Rays not to panic (St. Petersburg Times)

- Jeff Passan writes that the Rays might be too cool for own good. (Yahoo! Sports)

- Should Fox dread Rays/Phillies? (Sports Media Watch)

- Phillies prove that there’s another team playing in World Series. (Some fool who doesn’t know what he’s talking about)

For good reason, the Tampa Bay Rays have been the talk of the 2008 MLB Season. Not only are they a rags-to-riches story, but they also are a young, likeable club and one hat is easy to root for. We love pulling for the underdog and the Rays certainly fit the bill.

Of course, they’re not the underdogs anymore. As soon as they beat the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, they instantly became World Series favorites because they’ve created the best storyline. Not to mention, they come from a better conference, arguably have better overall talent and they’re the hotter team, as well.

But as they proved in their 3-2 win in Game 1 of the World Series, the Philadelphia Phillies are competing for a title, too. Nobody outside of Philly is talking about this club and for those who missed Game 1, it might have come as a surprise that the Phillies have thrown the first punch in this series.

The media (and I’m throwing myself into the mix here too considering I dedicated my column to the Rays this week) needs to start paying attention to the Fightin’ Phils or else we might wind up missing an even better story than the 2008 Rays. Philly has been a long-suffering sports city that is craving a title as much as anyone. And with phenomenal ace Cole Hamels (7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 5 Ks) and a solid lineup that features all-everything 2B Chase Utley (2 for 4, 2 RBI, 1 R), the Phillies might just close in on that title. (Although they’re going to need Ryan Howard to start hitting because Tampa won’t be held to just two runs every night.)

It’ll be exciting to watch the Rays’ magical season continue to play out, but ignoring the Phillies’ story would be a mistake.

Forget the magical, out-of-nowhere season for just a second. Instead, take a moment to appreciate how the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays got here.

No big name free agents. No blockbuster trades. No big payroll. The Rays’ built their success through years of phenomenal drafting, patience, and unlike most MLB teams, had the foresight to resist overspending on overpriced talent.

The Rays’ roster is littered with examples of how a baseball team should build success.

Take Matt Garza, the starting pitcher who limited the Red Sox to just two runs in 13 innings in the ALCS. He was the top prospect in the Minnesota Twins’ organization entering the 2007 season, and the 21st-best prospect in Major League Baseball according to Baseball America. But he couldn’t crack the Twins’ starting rotation out of spring training and the team began to grow impatient. The Twins felt that they could get a quality bat in return for their star prospect, and they eventually did.

In the 2008 offseason, Minnesota packaged Garza along with Jason Bartlett and Eduardo Morlan, and sent them to Tampa for Delmon Young, Jason Pridie and Brendan Harris. And while Garza only had a smattering of success in the regular season this year (he went 11-9 with a 3.70 ERA), he saved his best work for Boston in the postseason and wound up earning the ALCS MVP.

With their 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 Sunday night, the Tampa Bay Rays are going to the World Series for the first time in the history of their franchise.

There was no choke from the bullpen this time as reliever David Price struck out J.D. Drew with the bases loaded to end the top of the eighth, then (after putting the first guy on) retired the BoSox in the ninth. Starter Matt Garza was amazing for Tampa, limiting Boston to just one run on two hits. It was the second time he baffled the Red Sox this series, holding them to just two runs in 13 innings.

I’ll take full credit/blame for Tampa Bay’s victory. I wrote after Boston’s Game 6 victory that the Red Sox were a virtual lock to head to the World Series. As I wrote in that post, I wasn’t necessarily rooting against the Red Sox, but I appreciate how the Rays built their team over the year. They’ve done it with youth and through their farm system and they should be commended for doing so in a league that sometimes rewards teams for being able to spend the most money.

A Tampa-Philadelphia World Series certainly isn’t the most glamorous matchup the postseason could have produced (and it’s no doubt killing the TV networks), but the Rays were the story of the year and it’ll be exciting to see if they can cap this amazing season off by winning a championship.

The Boston Red Sox are going to the World Series. There’s just no doubt about it. And yes, this isn’t a misprint; they still need one more victory in Game 7 to officially close out the Tampa Bay Rays.

But after their 4-2 win in Game 6 and their dramatic come-from-behind win in Game 5, is there any doubt in anyone else’s mind that the BoSox are heading back to the World Series?

Boston has all the momentum and postseason experience to close the Rays out. Tampa has had two opportunities (none bigger than when they led 7-0 in the top of the seventh in Game 5) to put the nail in the coffin and they couldn’t do it. What makes anyone thing they’ll do it Sunday night against Jon Lester? What, because they absolutely hammered Lester in Game 3? Because Matt Garza has been the rock of the rotation outside of Scott Kazmir? None of that matters when your back is against the wall and you have to fight your way out of a hole. (And make no mistake about it – the Rays are in a hole. Even though the series is tied, they’ve lost all the momentum after their Game 5 loss.)

As a neutral fan, I’d love to see the Rays win. I’d rather see the club that built their team through the draft and farm system go to the WS than the one that bid over $51 million just to talk to a pitcher, than another $52 million just to sign him. Not that Boston doesn’t, but Tampa deserves to play for a championship after being the doormats in the AL East since their existence. But Boston did it to the Yankees, then again last year to the Indians and now they’ll do it against the Rays. They’ll complete their comeback and face the Philadelphia Phillies in this year’s Fall Classic. There’s no doubt about it.

- Steve Buckley recaps how the Red Sox snatched victory out of nowhere. (Boston Herald)

- Gary Shelton is worried about the Rays. He gives credit to Boston for a great comeback, but notes that Tampa will still close out the series. (St. Petersburg Times)

- Joe Posnanski had another post ready to go for when the Rays closed out the Sox in Game 5, but had to scrap it to write about how unbelievable Boston’s comeback was. (Joe Posnanski.com)

- Martin Fennelly writes that Tampa was just seven outs away from heading to the World Series and then the 2007 Rays showed up to blow the opportunity. (Tampa Tribune)

- Thomas Boswell searches for blame in Tampa’s collapse and notes that Joe Maddon managed the Rays out of a win. (Washington Post)

- Dick Scanlon writes that the series just got much harder for the Rays. (The Ledger)

With their 8-7 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 of the ALCS, the Boston Red Sox overcame the second largest deficit in postseason history and saved their season for at least the time being.

Lets put the Red Sox historic comeback on ice for a moment and talk about the complete collapse by the Rays, who took a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning but managed to squander it in the final three frames.

The game was over…the series was finished…Fenway vendors were hanging up their beer carriers for the final time…fans started pulling out their New England Patriots 2008 Team Handbook to learn more about Matt Cassel…Dice-K looked like crap…Scott Kazmir looked like Cy Young…see-ya Boston – thanks for coming out.

As is usually the case with most defeats, this wasn’t a complete team loss by Tampa. No, the Rays’ bullpen just flat out blew it. When you build a 7-0 lead and your starter goes six strong while only allowing two hits and no runs, you win the game. Period. But hey, give Boston credit. This is what veteran teams do – they don’t give up. They got their ass kicked for three straight games but found a way to win when everything was on the line. This is a huge momentum swing and one that maybe a young Rays team won’t be ready to bounce back from.

The good news for Tampa is that they get to head home and they get two cracks at trying to win one game. If someone told them that they would take 2 of 3 in Boston before the series started, I’m sure they would have gladly accepted. But to lose this way is crushing and if they don’t win Game 6, it’s going to be awfully hard to top a veteran club like the Red Sox in the most pressure-packed situation. (Especially considering Boston was in a similar scenario last year when they beat Cleveland after falling behind 3-1 in the series.)