9 = 2

At the start of season, Joe Maddon taught the Tampa Bay Rays players some new math: 9 = 8. His message? If 9 men play hard for all 9 innings in each game, they'll be one of 8 teams in the playoffs.

I guess Maddon's math was off. It turns out that 9 = 2.

Yes, the Red Sox turned it into a series, pushing it to Game 7 but in the end, their bats went cold as they dearly missed Mike Lowell, and they were unable to get that one hit that would have turned the game their way, those critical hits that they always managed to get in 2004 and 2007. This time? It was the Rays who ended up celebrating in a pig pile between the pitcher's mound and home plate.

9 = 2

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays and good luck in the World Series.

Season's end for the Red Sox.

Crap.