Who will Rays face in AL Wild Card Series? 3 possibilities

UPDATE: With the Rangers losing 1-0 to the Mariners and the Astros beating the Diamondbacks 8-1 on Sunday, the Rays will host the Rangers in the best-of-three American League Wild Card Series.

DEVELOPING: TORONTO — The Rays have known for a while that they were going to be the top seed of the American League wild-card teams and play a best-of-three series at Tropicana Field.

But they won’t know until after today’s final regular-season games who they will play in the opener Tuesday, as the seeding is unsettled. As the No. 4 seed, the Rays host the No. 5 seed, which is the second wild-card team. The No. 6 seed, which is the third wild-card team, plays at the AL Central Twins.

There are eight scenarios involving three potential opponents for the Rays, with the Astros, Blue Jays and Rangers all possibilities.

The Jays are most likely, and the Rays have some say as they meet today, but the race between the two Texas teams for the AL West title is also part of the equation. All games starting around 3:10 should make for some drama.

Wild-card game times have not been announced, but a late-afternoon start seems likely.

Also, Yandy Diaz goes into play today just behind Texas’ Corey Seager in the AL batting race, .32980 to .32952.

Seager is in the Rangers’ lineup as they are playing for the division title; Diaz is not the Rays’ lineup but manager Kevin Cash suggested that he could be used if there was an opportunity to finish on top. “We’ll monitor as the games go; that’s the fairest way to put it,” he said.

Here are the scenarios, per MLB:

Rays face Blue Jays if:

• Rangers win, Astros win, Blue Jays win

• Rangers win, Astros lose, Blue Jays win

• Rangers win, Astros lose, Blue Jays lose

• Rangers lose, Astros lose, Blue Jays win

• Rangers lose, Astros lose, Blue Jays lose

Rays face Rangers if:

• Rangers lose, Astros win, Blue Jays win

• Rangers lose, Astros win, Blue Jays lose

Rays face Astros if:

• Rangers win, Astros win, Blue Jays lose

• • •

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