Any scouting report on the Tampa Bay Rays and their big-game fielders going into the World Series, if set to a tune or primed for a rhyme, would have sounded like a children’s classic. Their defense seemed to be everywhere, and hitters learned they can’t go under it, can’t go around it, could rarely go through it, and, oh yes, had to go over it.
What the Rays did best was keep their opponents from doing barely anything.
“There might not be a team in baseball that prevents runs better than those guys,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said in the midst of the World Series.