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Rays clinch playoff berth with 6-2 win over Toronto

Rays’ victory, Cleveland loss sends Tampa Bay into the postseason for the first time since 2013
 
Tampa Bay Rays Ji-Man Choi (26) celebrates with his team in the club house as they clinching a spot in the playoffs after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays on September 27, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario.
Tampa Bay Rays Ji-Man Choi (26) celebrates with his team in the club house as they clinching a spot in the playoffs after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays on September 27, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]
Published Sept. 28, 2019|Updated Sept. 28, 2019

TORONTO — The six-month season of ups, downs and injuries these Rays players went through certainly seemed long enough. The six-year wait for the team executives, officials and the couple guys still in uniform was at times interminable.

“Like dog years, 42?’’ said general manager Erik Neander. “Too long. Too long.’’

So when they recorded the final out of their 6-2 win over the Blue Jays on Friday, shortly after the Indians made the last out of their 8-2 loss in Washington, the celebration to mark the Rays first trip back to the postseason since 2013 was understandably rollicking.

“You see how we’re celebrating,’’ said shortstop Willy Adames, alternating between pouring champagne and taking cellphone photos in the wet, wild and loud clubhouse.

“That’s what we do. We have fun. Especially in moments like this. That’s what we dream about. Coming to the big leagues. Going to the postseason. And now we’re here. And this is just the first step.’’

“We’ll keep this going tonight,’’ said veteran third baseman Matt Duffy. “And hopefully over the next month.’’

The Rays (96-64) now advance to the AL wild-card game at 8:09 p.m. Wednesday against the A’s, with the site still to be determined.

That’s because the Rays’ good Friday got better when the A’s blew a 3-2 ninth-inning lead in Seattle and lost 4-3. That left the Rays and A’s tied for the top spot, and the homefield advantage that comes with it, with two games to play.

The Rays need to finish a game ahead to host, since the A’s have the tiebreaker over them as a result of a 4-3 edge in the season series. So that means the Rays would need to win their two remaining games against the Jays while the A’s win only one, or the Rays need to win one if the A’s lose both.

Either way, they’re going to the playoffs.

“It’s an incredible feeling,’’ said Austin Meadows, who appeared to be more of a beer man. “The resiliency that we’ve shown all year, it’s incredible. To clinch a wild-card spot with a couple games left shows you about this team, this staff, the front office, everyone. We grinded all year and now we’re here.’’

Charlie Morton is expected to start for the Rays and Sean Manaea likely for the A’s, but those details, and others like setting a 25-man roster, are for another day.

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Friday was about what the Rays accomplished, and they had 225 bottles of Bottega champagne and dozens of cases of beer to celebrate it.

“There’s a lot more work to be done, but right now we’re going to enjoy this moment,’ starter Tyler Glasnow said. “It’s amazing.’’

Manager Kevin Cash addressed the team briefly in the clubhouse before the partying starting, recounting how last year their 90 wins weren’t enough to join the five-team AL postseason field and this year they were.

“(I’m) excited for the franchise, for the players, for the (Tampa) Bay area,’’ said Cash, a Tampa native. “It’s been a drought. The organization has created a certain winning culture, and now we get to hang another banner.’’

Knowing they needed some combination of two wins and Indians losses to clinch on Friday, the mood among the Rays pre-game was one of anticipation and excitement, with a few “it’s just like any other day” clichés mixed in.

“I think every single one of us is aware of the situation,’’ Duffy said. “If somebody says they’re not, I think they’re lying to you. Or they don’t have a smartphone.’’

The Rays played like they had a purpose, taking a two-run lead in the third on a homer by Tommy Pham, his first since Aug. 31 as he has been limited by right hand and elbow issues.

“I want everyone to soak all this in and see how fun it is,’’ Pham said. “Because if we keep winning there’s going to be plenty more of this.’’

The Rays extended the lead to 3-0 in the fourth. Rookie Nate Lowe, starting in place of injured Ji-Man Choi, walked, moved up on a groundout and scored on a single by Adames.

Glasnow, meanwhile, delivered a dazzling start, working into the fifth without allowing a hit, and throwing 66 pitches in doing so. That was Glasnow’s fourth start back following a nearly four-month stint on the injured list, and the Rays were hoping he could work at least through four innings to get further stretched out for potential division series duty should they get that far.

“Just glad we won right now,’’ Glasnow said. “Emotions are going crazy.’’

Colin Poche followed Glasnow, and while he ended the no-hitter suspense by allowing a double to the first batter he faced, he got the Rays through the sixth.

The seventh didn’t go well. Even though the Indians were losing in Washington, the Rays’ lead was suddenly in jeopardy. Chaz Roe gave up a single to Vlad Guerrero Jr., and an out later Oliver Drake allowed a two-run homer to Teoscar Hernandez, cutting the margin to 3-2.

Cash said they remained confident in the dugout, though admitted it got a little nerve-wracking.

But the Rays came right back. They got two in the eighth, on hits by Travis d’Arnaud, Nate Lowe and Avisail Garcia, then a passed ball to make it 5-2.

They took another breath in the ninth when Meadows 33rd homer made it 6-2. Then Emilio Pagan, who stepped in as the closer when they needed one, came on to fittingly finish it off.

The final out, that one that sealed the Rays return trip?

“Honored and proud to be the guy to do it,’’ Pagan said. “I don’t know that I’ve got a bigger out ever. It’s hard to put into words the feelings I had.’’

This will be the Rays first trip to the playoffs since 2013, when they were under different management, with Andrew Friedman running baseball operations and Joe Maddon in the dugout. They made it the postseason four times in a six-year window under that leadership team, starting with their 2008 breakthrough season that took them all the way to the World Series. They won AL East titles in 2008 and 2010, and earned wild-card spots in 2011 and 2013.

The wild-card berth capped a season of ups and downs.

The Rays got off to a sizzling 14-4 start, held the best record in the majors through the first three weeks of the season and led the AL East into mid-June, getting as many as 17 games over .500 at 41-24.

But an 18-24 run slowed them considerably, and, days after learning top starter Blake Snell was headed for elbow surgery, a staggering July 27 loss in Toronto, in which they took a 9-3 lead into the eighth and lost 10-9 in 12 innings, dropped them to 59-48.

In retrospect, their win the following day may have been the biggest of many significant ones down the stretch. Down 8-1 to the Jays headed to the sixth, the Rays staged the dramatic comeback this time, and won 10-9.

From that point on, they are 37-16, the second-best mark in the majors along with the A’s, and just behind the Astros. (And just ahead of the Twins and Yankees, completing the AL playoff field.)

The strong finish was impressive, and dramatic as the Rays swept the Indians in an Aug. 20-Sept. 1 series to move back into the wild-card pairing and stayed there, including going 6-2 against the Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees, winning three straight games in 11 innings and another three days later in 12.

Cash has downplayed the excitement of clinching a playoff berth and the significance of the wins leading up to it, even claiming before Friday’s game they were still a long way from accomplishing anything.

Late Friday, standing in a somewhat dry corner of the clubhouse, he said that the Sept. 18 extra-inning win over the Dodgers, when they rallied to tie in the ninth off star closer Kanley Jansen then won it in the 11th, was the point when he knew.

"When we came back and won that game, there were a lot of good thoughts getting on that plane,'' Cash said. "Knowing we were facing two great teams in Boston and New York, but we got on a roll and we were confident.''

Contact Marc Topkin at mtopkin@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Rays.