Austin Meadows, Joey Wendle and Mike Zunino played almost every day and disappointed
Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash had Austin Meadows, Joey Wendle, and Mike Zunino in the lineup almost everygame during the postseason and they were just terrible in the World Series. The three struggled for most of the entire postseason and could not figure out their offensive woes when the Rays needed them the most.
The former first round pick in 2013 had a fantastic 2019 and was on the All-Star team. In 2020, Meadows missed almost half the season due to injury and was barely hitting above .200. His struggles continued into the postseason and had a .188 batting average in the World Series.
Meadows was selected to be the table-setter for the Rays several times and he was unable to get on base. Meadows had just three hits in 16 at bats, and did not even walk once in the World Series. And then you had Brandon Lowe following Meadows in the lineup often and that synergy was just not working.
The infield utility player also struggled on the offensive side. Wendle was very good during the 2020 regular season finishing the season with a .286 batting average and getting on base .342 percent of the time. In 18 at bats, Wendle had a .111 batting average. He was able to drive in three runs but his consistency was not present.
A similar story for the starting catcher Zunino. Again, Zunino is in the everyday lineup for his defense but he was somewhat producing prior to the World Series. Zunino had eight hits in 37 at bats before the World Series. But once the national title was on the line, Zunino was only able to get one hit.
The big picture is the Rays offense struggled in the postseason. And especially in the World Series, some of the common run producers became easy outs for the Dodgers pitchers. On top of the offensive woes across the majority of the lineup, a few pitchers struggled in the World Series as well.