Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
The Brewers play the Rays in the World Series. The Brewers were winning three games to none.
On Tuesday night, the Rays played at home. The game went past nine innings. The Rays won 4 to 3.
A Rays player named Ben Williamson hit the ball. A teammate ran home. The Rays won!
Now the Brewers lead three games to one. Game 5 is tonight.
- World Series
- The big baseball games that decide the champion.
- inning
- One part of a baseball game.
- home
- The place where a team plays its own games.
- win
- To get more points and beat the other team.
- lead
- To be ahead.
- player
- A person who plays a game.
- champion
- The winner of a big contest.
- tonight
- This evening.
Level 2 - Elementary
The Tampa Bay Rays stayed alive in the World Series on Tuesday night. They beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4 to 3 at Tropicana Field in a game that went to extra innings.
Milwaukee had taken the lead with a solo home run from Cooper Pratt. But the Rays answered in the bottom of the extra inning. Junior Caminero reached first base after a throwing error. Then pinch hitter Ben Williamson drove in the winning run.
The win means the Rays avoided a sweep, which is when one team wins all four games. The Brewers still lead the series three games to one, and they are one win away from their first championship.
Game 5 is tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Fox. That is 3 a.m. on Thursday in Israel.
- extra innings
- More innings played when the score is tied after nine.
- sweep
- A series where one team wins every game.
- pinch hitter
- A player who comes in to bat for another player.
- walk off
- A win that ends the game right away at home.
- throwing error
- A mistake when a player throws the ball badly.
- solo home run
- A home run with nobody else on base.
- championship
- A contest that decides the best team.
- avoid
- To stay away from something bad.
Level 3 - Intermediate
Tampa Bay refused to go quietly on Tuesday night. Trailing three games to none, the Rays beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4 to 3 in a long extra-inning game at Tropicana Field, pushing the World Series to at least a fifth game.
Milwaukee had moved in front on a solo home run by Cooper Pratt, but the Rays answered in the bottom of the extra frame. Junior Caminero reached first base on a throwing error, and pinch hitter Ben Williamson drove in the winning run, ending the game. Early reports disagreed on whether the final out came in the twelfth or thirteenth inning, but not on the result.
The victory means the Rays avoid a sweep and keep alive the hope of an enormous comeback. No team has ever recovered from a three games to none deficit to win the World Series. Milwaukee, which reached its first Fall Classic since 1982 after sweeping the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, still needs only one more win for its first title.
Game 5 starts tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fox, or 3 a.m. Thursday in Israel. Another Rays win would send the series back to Milwaukee for a sixth game.
- trailing
- Being behind in a contest.
- frame
- Another word for inning in baseball.
- deficit
- The amount by which one side is behind.
- comeback
- A recovery from a losing position.
- Fall Classic
- A nickname for the World Series.
- stretch
- To continue over a long period.
- answer
- To respond to something with your own action.
- keep alive
- To stop something from ending.
Level 4 - Advanced
Baseball's postseason is a game of margins, and on Tuesday night in St. Petersburg the margin was a throwing error and a pinch hit. Facing elimination in a World Series they trailed three games to none, the Tampa Bay Rays outlasted the Milwaukee Brewers 4 to 3 in extra innings at Tropicana Field, deferring a coronation that had appeared all but inevitable.
Milwaukee had regained the lead through a solo home run from Cooper Pratt, only for Tampa Bay to respond in the bottom of the extra frame. Junior Caminero reached first base when a throw sailed wide, and Ben Williamson, sent up as a pinch hitter, drove in the run that ended it. Accounts differed on whether the clock had struck the twelfth inning or the thirteenth; the arithmetic of the outcome was never in dispute.
The context makes the result more remarkable than its single-run margin suggests. No club has ever erased a three games to none deficit in the World Series, and the Brewers, who reached their first Fall Classic since 1982 by sweeping the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, stay one win from a first championship. History, in other words, still favors Milwaukee heavily; Tampa Bay has merely bought a few more hours of hope.
Game 5 begins tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fox, which is 3 a.m. Thursday in Israel. A second Rays win would carry the series back to Milwaukee, and with it the sort of pressure that tends to make even favorites tighten.
- postseason
- The games played after the regular season to decide a champion.
- elimination
- The state of being knocked out of a contest.
- defer
- To delay something until later.
- coronation
- A ceremony that crowns a winner; here, a victory celebration taken for granted.
- inevitable
- Certain to happen.
- remarkable
- Worthy of attention because it is unusual.
- erase
- To remove completely.
- arithmetic
- Simple calculation; here, the basic facts of a result.
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