Mike Celizic

Nobody in Tampa thought this at the time, but losing Games 5 and 6 of the ALCS to the Boston Red Sox may prove to be the best thing that could have happened to a young team making its first-ever postseason foray.

We can say that because the Rays didn’t collapse. They didn't cave to the pressure of Game 7 against the defending World Champions. And in refusing to blink in the white glare of the national spotlight, they’ve been given a huge boost in confidence going into their first World Series.

They’ve also got another weapon they weren’t even aware they had — a big-game left-handed closer with blistering speed and composure far beyond what a kid who started the season in Class A should have. The kid’s name is David Price, and if it weren’t for him, Boston would be celebrating its third improbable ALCS comeback in the past five years.

These are huge advantages for a team that had never had a winning record before this season, a team that had finished last season with the major's worst record. The last two season have't been kind to those teams coming in rested.

Last year’s Rays were the Colorado Rockies, another young team that hadn’t known much success. The Rockies did have more veteran experience, mainly in the person of Todd Helton, but, like the Rays, the postseason was unfamiliar territory.

The Rockies won 14 of their last 15 games to reach the playoffs, then won eight straight to get to the World Series. At the time, we all thought it was wonderful. It turned out to be the worst thing they could have done because they had eight days to rest before the Fall Classic began.

Slideshow Fall classics NBCSports.com takes a photographic look at the 2008 MLB playoffs.

The problem was that with two weeks to go in the playoffs, the Rockies couldn’t even imagine the playoffs. They got there by playing so far out of their heads they may as well have been on Saturn. When they got to the World Series, they were flatter than Kansas. And when the Red Sox lit into them, they had no idea how to fight back.

The same thing was true for Detroit in 2006, when they entered the World Series on six days of rest, but lost to a Cardinals squad in five games.

The Tigers had won 96 games that season and trounced the Yankees and A's en route to the World Series. St. Louis barely finished over .500, escaped against the Mets in the NLCS, yet rolled in the World Series. Clearly, the Cardinals were helped by staying on a roll.

The Rays could have been in a similar situation had they beaten the Red Sox in five games, as they might have if manager Joe Maddon hadn’t started fiddling with his pitching rotation. They’d have come into the World Series having lost just one of eight playoff games with no clue what it feels like to face a must-win game.

Baseball      Teams entering World Series with five or more days off and how they fared Year Days Team Opp. Result 2007 8 Col Bos L, 4-0 2006 6 Det StL L, 4-1 2005 5 ChW Hou W, 4-0 2002 5 Ana SF W, 4-3 2001 5 Ari NYY W, 4-3 1996 6 NYY Atl W, 4-2 1995 6 Atl Cle W, 4-2 1991 5 Min Atl W, 4-3 1990 5 Oak Cin L, 4-0 1989 5 Oak SF W, 4-0 1988 5 Oak LA L, 4-1 Source: Elias Sports Bureau

But they lost Games 5 and 6 and then had to find out just what they had inside. As things turned out, it was more than enough.

Just as important as what the Rays know is what their opponents, the Phillies now know. They’ve been sitting around with nothing to do but watch the ALCS since they eliminated the Dodgers on Oct. 15. Besides getting rusty with inactivity, they’ve watched the Rays first dig themselves a hole and then climb out of it. As surely as the Rays now know they can come back against one of the game's best teams, so do the Phils.

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As fans, we want a seven-game series and the maximum drama. But the reality is that this World Series could easily turn into a rout, just like the past four Series, three of which were sweeps and one of which ended in five games. In the past 10 years, there have been just two Series that went the distance. In the 2002 Fall Classic, the Angels prevailed over the Giants in seven, and in 2001, the Diamondbacks plunging a stake through the heart of the Yankee dynasty with a walk-off Game-7 hit.

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