Rays win finale, to face Rangers in Wild Card Series

TORONTO -- Early Sunday afternoon, before wrapping up their 99-win regular season, the Rays tried to prepare for the postseason without knowing who they would be facing. There were scenarios still in play that could have led the Astros, Rangers or Blue Jays to Tropicana Field, so all the Rays could do was play their game and wait.

It all played out as the Rays put together a 12-8 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. The Jays losing, combined with the Astros winning and the Rangers losing in Game 162, finally put the American League postseason picture in place.

The No. 4 seed Rays will host the No. 5 seed Rangers in one Wild Card Series, beginning Tuesday afternoon in St. Petersburg, while the Twins will host the Blue Jays in the other Wild Card Series. The Astros wound up winning the AL West, giving them the No. 2 seed and a bye into the AL Division Series.

It was not necessarily the outcome the Rays expected. Most of the possible scenarios in play this weekend, even on Sunday, involved the Rays hosting the Blue Jays. The Rangers had a 2 1/2-game lead in the AL West as recently as Thursday. But here they are, ready to get their fifth straight trip to the playoffs underway against Texas.

“It's going to be a good matchup,” said Rays outfielder Josh Lowe, who will face his brother, Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe. “We're ready for whoever we play against. I'm excited for the postseason. I know everybody in here is excited for the postseason. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The Rays clinched a spot in the postseason two weeks ago. They secured home-field advantage in their first series six days after that. They knew all weekend they would be the AL’s top Wild Card team after the Orioles claimed the AL East title.

Now, after the final game of the regular season, they finally know who they’re going to play first.

“I'm excited about it. I think everybody is,” reliever Pete Fairbanks said. “Get a chance to go back to The Trop. And after missing out on a little October baseball there last year, we get to bring it back to St. Pete.”

The Rangers won their season series against the Rays, 4-2. Tampa Bay took two of three at home from June 9-11 but got swept in Arlington from July 17-19. With a deep and powerful lineup that yielded four All-Star starters, Texas was the only team in the AL that scored more runs and posted a higher team OPS than the Rays.

“Really good team. A lot of offense. Pretty versatile offense,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “And then their pitching, they’ve done a nice job here lately. They've had injuries, kind of like we've had here as of late, and they figured out ways to win games.”

Tampa Bay finished the regular season one win shy of matching the franchise record set by the 100-win club in 2021. Sunday’s offensive outburst also helped the Rays establish new single-season franchise records for most runs scored (860, surpassing the mark of 857 set in ‘21) and most home runs (230, besting the 2017 team’s 228).

“Take [July] out, and we did some really special things,” Cash said. “You're not going to hit for six straight months, but it felt like, regardless of the people that were up here, they kind of jumped on board and helped to score a lot of runs.”

It was also a day for individual achievements. Jonathan Aranda hit his first career grand slam. Top prospect Junior Caminero crushed his first big league home run. Lefty Jacob Lopez, called up to start Sunday, earned his first big league win.

But there was no accomplishment more notable than All-Star first baseman Yandy Díaz winning the AL batting title.

Out of the lineup as the Rays closely monitored Texas’ game in Seattle, Díaz (.330) moved past Rangers shortstop Corey Seager (.327 after going 0-for-4 on Sunday against the Mariners) to become the first batting champion in franchise history. He is the only Rays player to ever lead the American League outright in a triple crown category (Carlos Peña shared the 2009 AL home run title with Mark Teixeira).

Díaz said he would have pinch-hit Sunday if he needed a hit to catch Seager, but the moment never came. He claimed he wasn’t paying attention to Seager’s performance, but he smiled as he said hitting coach Chad Mottola kept him updated every time he saw him.

“I'm very happy. Everyone knows all the hard work it takes to do something like that, so thank God I was able to win that title,” Díaz said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “And of course, it means so much to be able to be the first Rays player in history to do it.”