Tampa Bay Rays: And the stars aligned for Brett Phillips

Game 4 of the World Series came down to one at-bat, and maybe the unlikeliest man possible came through for the Tampa Bay Rays. Meet Brett Phillips.

You ever heard of Brett Phillips? I bet you have now. The guy who has been a part of four major league organizations and played for three teams in four big-league seasons is now a household name in Tampa, Florida.

Phillips wasn’t listed on the American League Championship Series roster and his addition to the World Series roster was somewhat of a shock.

Though, there we were. A one run game. In the bottom of the ninth inning. The Tampa Bay Rays down by a run. All-Star closer on the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers. And Brett Phillips at the plate.

Some background information.

Phillips has 68 career hits in parts of four years in the league. He is a career .202 hitter.

He hit .150 for the Rays this year, after being acquired in a mid-season trade with the Kansas City Royals. He was 1-10 with runners in scoring position. He had only batted twice previously in the postseason and gotten out both times. As Kenley Jansen got ahead in the count, Phillips was 0-8 with four strikeouts on the season when facing a 1-2 count.

That’s why they throw the pitches and play the games.

Brett Phillips came up with the biggest hit of his career, and went from the last guy off the bench to arms out, flying around the bases, as if he’d just won the World Series.

Well, he did save his team from going down 3-1 in the Fall Classic, and flipped the script on the Dodgers to turn this into a best of three series.

Would we expect anything different as we close out one of the weirdest baseball seasons on record? Good for Phillips for getting the opportunity to play hero on the biggest stage the game has to over.

This will be a night he will remember the rest of his life, and regardless of how his baseball career goes from here, he’ll always be the owner of a walk-off hit (albeit aided by a fielding error)  in the World Series.