For all the success they had and the hype they received in the 2023 MLB regular season, the Tampa Bay Rays' dream of winning the World Series has come to a screeching halt. They are no longer in contention for the grandest prize in the big leagues, as Tampa Bay got eliminated by the Texas Rangers via a sweep in the 2023 American League Wild Card round. The Rays won 99 games in the regular season but did not seem they did with the way they played overall in both games against the Rangers.

Through two games, they only mustered a single run. Plus, they weren't able to suppress the offense of Texas with their pitching either. It did not help them very much when they shot themselves in the foot with errors, particularly in the series opener.

When a great regular-season team crashes out of World Series contention the way Tampa Bay did in the Wild Card, it's automatic for fans to people to blame for such an underwhelming showing on the field.

Zach Eflin

Just before the start of the Rangers series, Rays pitcher Zach Eflin got a little sentimental about being a young Tampa Bay fan in 2008 and seeing the team go all the way to the World Series that year. There was barely anything worth remembering, however, about the way he pitched Wednesday night, as he allowed four earned runs on five hits in five innings of work on the mound versus the Rangers. He also walked two batters and struck out just three Rangers. Eflin was actually pitching well until the fourth inning when the wheels started to fall off, beginning with a solo homer he gave up to Adolis Garcia.

Rene Pinto

The Rays did not get much from Pinto. While he's not really someone most people expected to play a pivotal role offensively for Tampa Bay in the Rangers series, he was still atrocious. When it was all said and done in the Wild Card series, Pinto had zero hits to show through five at-bats, while also striking out four times. He also committed one of the four errors the Rays had in Game 1.