ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Down to their last chance, the Tampa Bay Rays left no doubt they were World Series-worthy, after all.

Believe it: Baseball's doormats have arrived.

Going from worst to first, the young Rays completed a stunning run to their first pennant, holding off the defending champion Boston Red Sox 3-1 Sunday night behind Matt Garza's masterful pitching in Game 7 of the AL championship series.

"It's unbelievable," center fielder B.J. Upton said. "We battled a lot of adversity this year. We stuck together as a team."

And, they showed a bit of Boston-like resolve when they needed it.

The Rays nearly let the series slip away when they blew a seven-run lead late in Game 5 and lost meekly Saturday night. But when rookie David Price struck out J.D. Drew with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning, the Rays were on their way.

Price, who didn't make his major league debut until late September, also worked the ninth, walking Jason Bay and striking out Mark Kotsay and Jason Varitek before getting pinch-hitter Jed Lowrie to ground into a game-ending force play.

Tampa Bay's worst to first saga was the feel-good story of this season, and it probably was fitting that Price, the least experienced of the young Rays, was on the mound at the most critical point of the ALCS.

"Minimal experience, but I was not hesitant," manager Joe Maddon said.

When it was over, players and coaches streamed out of the dugout and mobbed Price, eventually falling to the ground in a cluster that continued to grow when others began leaping on the pile.

Music blared and the crowd of 40,473 stood and cheered.

The party moved inside briefly before players returned to the field raced up and down the right field stands spraying fans with champagne before settling down for the presentation of AL championship trophy.

"It's not what we expected to happen," Boston slugger David Ortiz said. "You have to give them credit. They pitched well. They've got good hitters."

The Rays were a 200-1 shot to win the World Series before the season started. Now, they'll host the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 Wednesday night.

Garza beat Boston twice in a week and was picked as the MVP.

"As a kid I think everybody pictures this night," he said. "Usually it's Game 7 of the World Series but I'll take Game 7 of the ALCS."

Willy Aybar homered and Evan Longoria and Rocco Baldelli also drove in runs to support Garza. Acquired in an offseason trade with Minnesota, Garza limited the Red Sox to Dustin Pedroia's firstinning home run.

Four more wins and Maddon's bunch will become the first team to go from worst in the majors to World Series champion in just one season.

The Red Sox were hoping to win their third crown in five years.

"We didn't get as far as we wanted," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "We came out to win and go to the World Series and we didn't accomplish that."