Wednesday, 4 am.

They live.

The Tampa Bay Rays, down to the last at-bat of the season, rallied to win their first game of the World Series, 4-3 in 12 innings over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Now, can they do it again?

And again?

And again?

Oh, the odds remain staggering against the Rays. For now, they'll have to be happy to still have a pulse. But they hit a little better, and they pitched a lot better, and they showed a little more life in winning their first Series game at Tropicana Field.

The Rays trailed 3-2 going into the bottom of the 12th. It didn't look promising. The Brewers' bullpen had owned the Rays' bats the entire series. Tampa Bay had a pair of leads during the game, but they had just five hits through the first 11 innings.

Then came the 12th. Milwaukee had just taken a 3-2 lead on Cooper Pratt's home run, and it seemed that only the celebrating by the Brewers was ahead.

But Junior Caminero reached on an error by Brewers' third baseman Joey Ortiz. Liam Hicks then singled to left.

Jonny DeLuca followed with a game-tying single. Chandler Simpson then singled.

That brought up Ben Williamson, who was only one-for-15 for the series. But he chopped the first pitch into right field, bringing in the winning run.

The Rays had gone ahead 1-0 in the second inning when Simpson doubled in DeLuca. They made it 2-1 when DeLuca brought in a run on a fielder's choice.

Ian Seymour (2-0) was the game winner, working one inning and giving up two hits and a run.

Simpson had two hits.

The Rays, naturally, are struggling to find pitchers with enough rest for tonight's game (8, Tropicana Field).

Tuesday, 4 a.m.

Was it all a mirage?

All of moments, all of the victories, all of the speed, all of the resilience of the Tampa Bay Rays' season? Did we imagine it all? Was it all a mass hallucination? The AL East title? The best record in the American League? The magic? The electricity? The possibilities?

It all seems to have vanished into the back pockets of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers embarrassed the Rays Monday night, 10-1. After losing a pair of one-run games, the Rays gave up 16 hits and were routed.

The result leaves Milwaukee with a 3-0 lead in the World Series. The Rays would have sweep to avoid losing their third World Series in franchise history.

The Rays started the night off with a single by Yandy Diaz. They didn't get another hit until Cedric Mullins singled in the ninth inning. Diaz drove him in with a double, but by then, the Rays were impossibly behind. The Brewers scored eight times in the fifth inning with seven two-out hits.

The Rays will turn to Griffin Jax to try to avoid a sweep tonight.

Starting pitching, so strong for the Rays in the regular season, struggled again. Freddy Peralta, the MVP of the AL Championship, lasted just 4 2/3 innings and gave up seven hits and five of the runs.

In three games, the Rays' starters of Nick Martinez, Drew Rasmussen and Peralta have gone just 13.1 innings and have given up 18 hits and 10 earned runs. The Rays have had just 17 hits, one more than Milwaukee had Monday night.

None of the Rays' strengths have shown up in the Series. Not the pitching, not the hitting, not the speed, not the defense.

Tonight's game will be at 8 at Tropicana Field. The Brewers have not announced a starter to go against Jax.

Monday, 4 a.m.

The wish list came true Sunday. Every frustration held by a fan of the Tampa Bay Bucs was solved. Every shortcoming suddenly looked like a strength.

And just like that, the Bucs won a division game by 30 points.

The Bucs had all the answers in Sunday's 43-13 victory over Carolina.

-- Running the ball? The Bucs ran it 49 times and gained 258 yards. They chewed up the Panthers, rolling for three scores.

-- Rushing the passer? The Bucs sacked Bryce Young five times. They also came up with two interceptions and returned a blocked extra point for a score. YaYa Diaby had three sacks.

-- Forcing turnovers. The Bucs caused three of them, one of them a 32-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Calijah Kancey.

-- Making sure the quarterback plays under control. In his return to the lineup, Baker Mayfield threw only 11 times for 64 yards. He did throw a 14-yard score to Tez Johnson.

-- Relying on a strong offensive line. The line propelled Bucky Irving to 106 yards and Kenny Gainwell to 88.

All in all, the Bucs avoided shooting themselves in the foot as they had during their 1-5 start to the season.

The result is the Bucs are now 2-5 and tied for third place in the NFC South, a game behind Carolina and Atlanta.

The Bucs are home Sunday against Atlanta at 1 p.m. at Raymond James Stadium.