ST. PETERSBURG -- Zach Eflin will admit he’s not one for overthinking, overanalyzing or getting overly anxious. He understands the postseason presents a bigger stage, especially after pitching into the World Series a year ago, but he doesn’t treat it any differently.

That makes him the Rays’ ideal choice to pitch on Wednesday afternoon with their season on the line.

Eflin will take the mound to face the Rangers in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series at Tropicana Field, and the stakes are clear after a sloppy 4-0 loss Tuesday in Game 1: Win or stay home for the winter.

“There's no time to really dwell on it,” Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said. “I don't think really what goes into today or what happened today will affect the minds or the focal points of where we're going to be at tomorrow.”

The Rays will be prepared to do whatever it takes to win, but that plan starts with another quality outing from Eflin, the rock of an injury-plagued rotation all season.

“That’s everything. He’s awesome,” Game 1 starter Tyler Glasnow said. “He’s been amazing this year. He always comes up in big games, and I’m very confident.”

This is exactly what Eflin signed up for when he inked the largest free-agent contract in Tampa Bay franchise history last December. His three-year, $40 million pact allowed him to stay close to his Orlando-area home and pitch for the team he grew up rooting for, the one that created meaningful postseason memories for him with their 2008 run to the World Series.

After six years of missing out on the postseason in Philadelphia, he finally got to experience the playoff atmosphere as the Phillies stormed through the National League field and into the World Series last October. Once he got a taste of that atmosphere, that energy, that excitement, he wanted more.

“That was probably my biggest goal this offseason, to sign with a team that wins consistently in the playoffs, and it just helped that I grew up a really big Rays fan and I live two hours away,” Eflin said before Game 1. “This is exactly the scenario that I wanted to be in. I’m really happy with everybody on the team and all the perseverance that we’ve had this year to get to this point.”

And they wouldn’t be here without Eflin. Limited to 75 2/3 innings in the regular season and 10 2/3 more in the postseason last year, the 29-year-old went 16-8 with a 3.50 ERA while setting career-high marks for starts (31), innings (177 2/3) and strikeouts (186) with a 1.02 WHIP that ranked behind only Gerrit Cole (0.98) among qualified starters this season.

“I'm really ecstatic that I was able to stay healthy for as long as I did this year,” Eflin said. “Not saying that I didn't believe in myself, but just being able to go out there and pitch every fifth day and do everything I need to do to be prepared for that fifth day, so it's been a lot of fun.”

He turned out to be something of a stabilizing force in a Tampa Bay rotation that never made one full turn with its top five starters heading into Spring Training. Glasnow started the season late due to an oblique injury he sustained in Spring Training. Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen went down with season-ending elbow injuries, and All-Star ace Shane McClanahan eventually followed them to the 60-day injured list.

Other pitchers stepped in to fill their spots, but Eflin stepped up to be the front-end starter and calming veteran presence the Rays needed.

They’ll need it more than ever on Wednesday.

“He has been phenomenal. As good as he's been on the mound, he's been just as good -- if not better -- in the clubhouse,” Rays general manager Peter Bendix said. “He in many ways has helped save our season from a culture perspective. 

“What he has done with [veteran lefty reliever Jake] Diekman, they have gone so far out of their way to do things to help the group come together, to support the group and support the young guys -- pitchers and position players. I cannot praise them enough for that.”