Blake Snell’s reaction to Kevin Cash’s decision that blew the World Series is perfect

Kevin Cash blew the World Series for the Tampa Bay Rays. What a shame.

Rejoice, New York Yankees fans. The Tampa Bay Rays are, once again, NOT World Series champions after faltering late against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6. The best part, though? The Rays were the reason for their own demise.

Just like in Game 2, Blake Snell was mowing down the Dodgers in a do-or-die Game 6 for Tampa. However, he didn’t run into nearly as much trouble on Tuesday night as he did last week. The lefty was cruising. He was through 5.2 innings and allowed just two hits, zero walks and struck out nine with the Rays leading 1-0.

But his second hit allowed on the night had manager Kevin Cash bring out the worst of Rays baseball. He pulled Snell with Mookie Betts coming to the plate. The Dodgers slugger has been terrible against lefties for all of 2020 and was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a walk against Snell in this series.

Snell’s reaction says it all.

Can’t blame the guy! Snell has largely been great in the Fall Classic and getting the hook after a two-out single to face a guy you’ve flat-out dominated in your two outings has to be infuriating.

What’s even more infuriating, though? Cash went to righty Nick Anderson, who had allowed a run in six straight postseason appearances this year. Make that seven, folks! Betts doubled down the left field line to put runners on second and third with two outs. Then a passed ball brought Austin Barnes across the plate to score. Tie game.

After that, Corey Seager ripped a grounder to first and the Rays came home to try and get Betts, but the speedster got a great jump and beat the throw easily. That made it 2-1 Dodgers and the momentum had shifted immeasurably.

What’s the point of having an ace-like arm if you’re going to take him out the moment he gets into a fraction of trouble? That’s Rays baseball for ya. It crushed the Yankees all year, but it failed Tampa on the big stage. That’s gotta be a win for New Yorkers everywhere.

On top of that, if we really want to roast Cash for his managerial decisions, on the offensive side he continually trusted shortstop Willy Adames. He’s a very good player, but how can you keep trotting the guy out there in high-leverage situations when he was constantly failing?

Before this meltdown, Cash spoke with the broadcast booth and said Adames was due for a big hit with runners on that would lift the pressure off his back. How much time did you think there was, Kevin? You’re in the midst of a win-or-go-home Game 6 and you only lead by a run against arguably the best offense in baseball. How many more opportunities could Adames possibly have?

But enough of that. Pulling Snell in favor of Anderson in this situation will easily go down as one of the worst managerial decisions in World Series history, and even the most basic of statistics out there can tell the average fan that.

And we’re not even sure what this was, because it definitely wasn’t analytics. It seems the Rays finally twisted themselves into a pretzel given all the complicated/exaggerated moves they’ve made all season long. But that’s their brand of baseball, and it’s fitting how it ended for them.

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