Excerpt from a Yahoo Sports article
That Bauers and Snell, former Rays farmhands who shared countless minor-league bus rides, ended up here, on this stage, is a testament to the long, winding, beautiful road that is professional baseball.
Wednesday's two main characters have taken very different paths in the decade since they last shared a clubhouse. Snell stuck with Tampa Bay, achieving stardom, two Cy Youngs and around $139 million in career earnings. Bauers, meanwhile, couldn't quite find a foothold in The Show. He bounced from organization to organization as filler, as depth, as a backup plan.
Twenty-six days before Snell penned his five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers in November 2024, Bauers was outrighted, effectively released, by the team he has since pushed within a game of the Fall Classic. But the Brewers, ahead of 2025, brought Bauers back on a minor-league deal. And through circumstance, faith, confidence, obstinance and determination, the 31-year-old SoCal kid finally turned himself into an impact major leaguer. This season, he was the best hitter on baseball's best team.
Over the past few days, he has taken things to a whole new level, looking as dialed in as a ballplayer can be.
"I've seen all the ups and downs he's been through, and it's been a lot of downs. So for him to go through this right now, he's earned it. Hats off to him," a conciliatory Snell shared after the game.
"This is the best I've ever seen him play."
That bolded quote from Snell, wow what a really gracious thing for him to say. Jake is such an easy guy to root for.