The Rays are the 39th team in MLB history to run up a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series. Thirty-seven of the first 38 managed to issue the coup de grace before losing four straight; up until Correa’s home run, it was borderline-inconceivable that the Rays would fail to join that overwhelming majority. Now, the Astros are mere 4-to-1 underdogs. At those odds, they’re very much alive.
Step right up if you would have predicted the Rays would be playing in Game 5 of the ALCS and the pitchers who got them through the first seven innings in a close game would have been John Curtiss, Josh Fleming and Aaron Slegers.