Gotta say, that was an absolute banger of a ballgame.

Right up until the moment that Tampa Bay’s ace – former Mt. Spokane star Drew Rasmussen – threw a meatball pitch, the bullpen imploded and Junior Caminero’s collision with Jonny DeLuca snatched your ancestor’s soul.

In the end, it was simply a 7-3 Game 1 loss for the Rays to the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Championship Series.

And yet it felt like a warning sign.

Maybe even a gut punch.

Coming into Monday night, the baseball world seemed in agreement that the Guardians and Rays were built in similar ways, but that Cleveland was a lesser version of Tampa Bay.

It took seven innings for that storyline to look simplistic and silly.

“They were competing every pitch. There were no easy outs in the game,” said Rays second baseman Ben Williamson. “They put pressure on you every inning, every opportunity.”

And now you know what that feels like.

For six months, opponents have said similar things about playing the Rays. They don’t make mistakes, they work at-bats, they trot out a parade of quality pitchers. Yup, the Rays seemed to perfect that old-school style of baseball. And then the Guardians came along Monday night and showed the Rays a gear they hadn’t seen before.

“They battle deep into counts, they put balls in play and, you know, at the end of the day some balls are going to find guys, other ones are going to find holes,” Rasmussen said. “Kudos to them, they grind out at-bats early in the game.”

This wasn’t a game won by a hot hitter or a dominant pitcher. It was a complete, in-your-face beatdown by an underdog with nothing to lose. Even worse, it was like looking at your doppelganger shimmy across your living room.

Tampa Bay’s celebrated top three hitters? Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda and Caminero went 3-for-12 with one RBI.

Cleveland’s top three hitters? Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez and Chase DeLauter went 7-of-14 with two RBIs and a home run.

Tampa Bay’s shutdown bullpen that helped the Rays go 79-6 when leading after the sixth inning? Five relievers gave up five runs in three innings.

Cleveland’s relievers surrendered only two hits and one run over five innings.

“Their pitching did a really good job,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I would like to think that we can put a little bit more offense together, scratch and claw, get a couple more runs or knock a ball out of the ballpark.”

So here’s why this one felt more ominous than your typical Game 1 loss:

Everything, and I mean everything, seemed to be in Tampa Bay’s favor.

The Guardians were coming off an emotional, backs-to-the-wall comeback against the White Sox in the Division Series, their pitching was running on fumes, and the Rays had a well-rested Rasmussen ready to take the mound. When Tampa Bay scratched out two runs in the first inning, it seemed like the first chords of your favorite tune.

Except the Rays left the bases loaded and their bats went silent for the next two hours.

Rasmussen, meanwhile, struggled more than usual with Cleveland fouling off a ton of pitches and slicing balls in every direction. It gave you pause when Rasmussen surrendered a leadoff homer to DeLauter in the sixth, but the Rays still had a lead and a rested bullpen.

Cash chose to let Rasmussen begin the seventh while facing the bottom of the Cleveland order and when the right-hander threw a middle-middle cutter on his first offering, it seemed like that might be the defining moment in the game.

Except, we were disabused of that notion when the bullpen promptly fell apart in a 2-2 game.

In some ways, this felt like the antithesis of Game 1 of the Yankees series. The Rays absolutely needed to win that game because New York had Cam Schlittler waiting in the wings and a loss would have created a ton of pressure going into Game 2.

This time, the Rays had all the momentum in Game 1 and let it slip away. So now the Guardians have beaten the Rays with Rasmussen on the mound and a real possibility of falling down 0-2 with Cleveland throwing ace Parker Messick in Game 2.

“We’ll wipe away today. You know, with this group, we always have our heads up. We never have our heads down,” Caminero said via interpreter Kevin Vera. “We know exactly who we are. We won 98 games for a reason. We won the division for a reason. So we’re going to keep going and leave this one behind.”