SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

Tonight, the World Series heads to St. Petersburg, Florida, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays would be an unlikely championship squad. They had the third lowest payroll in all of baseball last year, and more to the point, right now, they are down 0-2 in the series to the Brewers. Yet, the Rays built a team that led the American League with 98 wins. NPR's Becky Sullivan has more.

BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Two summers ago, Bryan Baker was doing a crossword puzzle in the dugout in Baltimore. He was with the Orioles then, a relief pitcher, when he got the phone call that changed his career.

BRYAN BAKER: And then you find out, oh, no, you need to be in Fenway today, 'cause you're going to be playing for the Rays tonight. It's like, yeah, your life gets kind of turned upside down.

SULLIVAN: The Tampa Bay Rays had come calling, offering to trade a draft pick in exchange for Baker. In four seasons with the Orioles, Baker was a solid reliever, but the Rays felt they could get something more out of him. Now a year and a half later, he's a player transformed. The ice-in-his-veins closer for a World Series squad and an All-Star for the first time in his career.

BAKER: Oh, man. It's hard to explain. It just - if you'd have told me it worked out like this, you know, a year and a half ago, I would have, like, laugh - I would have laughed at you.

SULLIVAN: This is Rays baseball. Heavyweights in this sport can spend $300 million or more each year on their squads. Tampa, by contrast, spent less than a third of that. Their slugger, Junior Caminero, came on a trade from Cleveland as an 18-year-old prospect. Their top starting pitchers came from trades too. In August, the Rays sent three prospects to the Miami Marlins in exchange for catcher Liam Hicks. On Saturday, in Game 2, Hicks hit a two-run homer. It's heard here on Fox.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOE DAVIS: Hicks turns on a ball, sends it in the air to deep right field. Goodbye.

SULLIVAN: It should come as no surprise that there's a saying in baseball - when Tampa calls to see if you want to make a trade, you should hang up the phone. I asked Hicks if he thought about that old saying when the Rays traded for him.

LIAM HICKS: You know, that came to mind for sure. You know, everyone kind of seems to know that there's some secret sauce that the Rays have.

SULLIVAN: Tampa has long been seen as one of the best-run organizations in baseball. They invest big in scouts and analytic staff who are willing to hunt for even the tiniest edge.

KEVIN CASH: I mean, that's on the pitching side, the hitting side, the end game decision side.

SULLIVAN: This is Rays manager Kevin Cash.

CASH: We've got so many really bright people that can look at the big picture. They can look at 10,000 games and decipher, you know, where these decisions might come into play and could help us win one game.

SULLIVAN: Tampa's influence on this sport has been huge. The most recent World Series champions, the Dodgers, and the Rays' opponents in this World Series, the Brewers, are both led by former Tampa executives. And for the team itself, it's led to three World Series appearances and five division titles over the past couple decades.

CAM BOOSER: Every single year, for - what? - the last 20 years, we've talked about this, how the Rays just find guys that nobody else wants or nobody else thinks highly of. They bring them in, and next thing you know, they're an All-Star.

SULLIVAN: Relief pitcher Cam Booser is 34. His story is classic Rays. A pile of injuries had led him to give up on baseball back in 2017. He moved home, worked in construction. A few years later, Booser realized his fastball still had some juice. So he decided to work his way back. But last year, he was dropped by the Chicago White Sox after a mediocre season. Pitching in the World Series felt like a total fantasy.

BOOSER: Yeah. I mean, I think we all have, like, a hope. I think we're all very hopeful that we get to play meaningful games. We're all very hopeful that we get to play on the biggest stage. Personally, did I ever think it would happen? No, especially after last year - like, very down year. I thought, like, maybe I get one more year in Triple-A. Go out, have fun, and just - if that's it, that's it.

SULLIVAN: Then, last winter, Tampa signed him to a Minor League deal. It was one more chance. With their advice, by June, he was pitching well enough for the Majors. And on Saturday, the fantasy became reality. Booser was called in to get the Rays out of a bases-loaded jam, and he pulled it off.

BOOSER: I'm incredibly thankful to be a part of that, to have been one of those guys. It's been an absolute dream come true to be a part of this organization, put this uniform on.

SULLIVAN: It's crunch time now for the Rays. They're down two games to zero to the Brewers, but the next few games are at home in Florida, and they say they're still confident the formula that got them here can work just four more times.