Saturday, 4 a.m.

Most of the time, he pushes most of the right buttons.

But, yeah, Kevin Cash had a tough debut in the opening game of the World Series.

Granted, being in charge of in-game decisions for a team is an invitation to get one wrong every now and then. There are so many decisions -- when to change pitchers, when to pinch hit, when to steal, who to start, etc. -- that it's hard to be perfect.

This time, Cash wasn't.

Start with his first major decision of a night the Rays lost 3-2 to Milwaukee to open the World Series. That was the decision to start Nick Martinez over Drew Rasmussen. It didn't work out. Martinez gave up three hits and two runs to the first four hitters, and from then on, the Rays were playing chase.

How about the bottom of the fifth? Down 2-1, the Rays had Victor Mesa Jr. on second base. Yandy Diaz, who led the league in hitting with runners in scoring position, was at the plate. But Mesa Jr. took off and was out at third. The Rays only had three more hits.

Then there was the bullpen. The Rays chose to go first to Steven Matz, who hasn't done much in the post-season. He walked two batters and gave up a run in 1 2/3 innings.

And so the Rays start off in a hole. They managed just seven hits for the game -- three of them by Jonathan Aranda and two by Chandler Simpson. Liam Hicks had two ground outs to bring in both Rays' runs.

The Rays came close to tying in the ninth inning. The Rays loaded the bases, and a run scored when Cooper Pratt was pulled off the second-base bag as Hicks hit into an apparent double play. But Jonny DeLuca struck out to end the game.

The Rays were 0-6 with runners in scoring position.

Tampa Bay and Milwaukee play Game Two tonight at 8 American Family Field. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Logan Henderson.

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

By now, you'd think this was all getting boring for Nikita Kucherov.

Another night, another handful of points, another entry into the team's record books.

Kucherov was at it again Tuesday night, getting three points in an impressive 6-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas had won eight of 10 games.

But Kucherov led the way in the win. He is now the franchise's leading scorer with 1,137 points, tying Steven Stamkos.

Andrei Vasileveskiy stopped 32 shots in the win.

The Bolts are now 7-2 on the season,

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Anthony Cirelli scored two goals for Tampa Bay.

Brandon Hagel, John Carlson and Victor Hedman all scored for the Bolts.

The Bolts play at the Colorado Avalanche on Friday at 9 p.m

Tuesday, 4 a.m.

Perhaps the words escape you to describe the Tampa Bay Rays' journey to the World Series.

Perhaps you should savor it in images.

That. was Jonathan Aranda, sinking to his knees and shouting to the skies. That was Junior Caminero, his arms outstretched in a primal scream. That was Taylor Walls, bouncing up and down as if on a pogo streak.

And that was Yandy Diaz, the one who had guaranteed all of this, the one who clinched it with a two-run homer in the eighth.

The Rays now advance to a best-of-seven series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The series begins on Friday night in Milwaukee..

There were so many big moments for the Rays in their victory.

There was Fastball Freddy Peralta, who won the series MVP.

Peralta, who came to the Rays after a dreadful first half with the Mets, pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed five hits and one earned run.

There was Caminero, who hit his first home run of the post-season in the eighth.

There was Richie Palacios, who had a two-run double early to give the Rays a lead.

There was Bryan Baker, shutting down another opponent. Baker didn't get a save this time, but he still smothered another team.

There was Kevin Kelly, who got the key out after Cleveland had cut the deficit to 5-3.

Caminero and Palacios each had two hits for the Rays.

The Rays have reached the World Series twice before. They lost to Philadelphia in five games in 2008 and to the Dodgers in six games in 2020.