Nick Anderson was one of the best relievers in the regular season but the Tampa Bay Rays pitcher became a different person in the postseason
Tampa Bay Rays reliever Nick Anderson was one of the most heavily relied upon pitchers for Kevin Cash since last season. Anderson threw a 0.55 ERA during the 2020 regular season and struck out 26 batters in 16.1 innings.
One glaring moment where Anderson failed the Rays was in Game Six after coming in to replace Blake Snell. Cash controversially took out Snell after pitching like a stud. Anderson came in and gave up two runs in the sixth inning which gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead in the game.
For Anderson, the postseason has been a struggle and it continued in Game Six. This was one of the reasons why pulling Snell in the sixth inning on 73 pitches was questionable because Anderson had been struggling.
Over the 2020 postseaosn, Anderson pitched 14.2 innings and allowed nine earned runs. Anderson gave up only one earned run in the entire regular season. Despite Anderson’s struggles from the beginning of the postseason, Cash continued to call upon Anderson.
This seemed to be a similar trend for Cash and the Rays. He has a lot of trust in his players despite their postseason struggles which can be good, but also very dangerous. In 2020, Cash’s overtrust of his players like Lowe, Adames, and Anderson really hurt their World Series chances.
As mentioned previously, Cash will be highly criticized for ultimately losing Game Six after pulling Blake Snell and his trust in his struggling players. But, many Rays players just did not perform when they needed them the most.
The Dodgers out-clutched the Tampa Bay Rays players and deserve to win the World Series. They were the better team and the Rays somehow made it to the World Series despite all of their struggling players.