Before we get into the series, here's where things stand for the playoff races going into the season's final week. First of all the NL is all but over. Nominally there's a race in the NL Central but St. Louis is 4 up on Pittsburgh so we're talking epic collapse if things change there. Otherwise, Columbus and the Dodgers are the other division winners and the Mets will play Washington in the Wild Card Game. In the AL, it's death, taxes, and the Rays and Rangers winning their divisions, which leaves the AL Central and the Wild Card race, which is pretty wide-open and where the final week action will be:
The Royals are probably a lock at this point to at least take a wild card, so there are three teams fighting over two spots (Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle). We'll keep you updated.
Game 1: If this were earlier in the season the Tampa Bay area would be abuzz over the Rays' 3-run comeback in the 8th inning to take a 6-5 win over the Yankees, but instead it's just another game to get closer to the playoffs. Ricky Widmar's 2-run double tied it up and Will Quintana's sac fly brought home the game-winner as the Rays overcame a 5-3 deficit going into the bottom of the 8th. Eric Riley pitched a 1-2-3 8th and got his 2nd Rays win while Kikuo Kawase struck out the side in the 9th for save #31. Earlier Jon Soranno started and cruised through 4 before giving up 3 in the 5th to put the Yankees in front 3-1 at the time. He made it through 6 and the Rays tied it up but Danny Medina got hit hard for a couple in the 7th. Danny Ayala hit #42, a solo shot in the 6th, while Widmar and Quintana also brought home runs earlier in the game.
Game 2: No comeback today as Leo Ortega gave up a grand slam in the 6th and the Rays fell 7-4 to the Yankees at Publix Park. Ortega was cruising until he loaded the bases with nobody out and gave up the William Naranjo slam which cost him a shot at breaking the Rays win record as he would have had to have won this start plus one on the final day. Now he may not even make that start although he might go a couple of innings to see if he can get his ERA back below 3 as it ticked up to 3.01 after a 6 9 5 5 0 7 outing. Tyler Jefferson gave up a 2-run homer to Andrew Benintendi in the 7th to pad the Yankee lead. On offense, Jaiden Hardaway had a 2-run double and Dayle Jenkins had a couple of hits to allow him to reach the 200-hit plateau for the year. Ricky Widmar had to leave yet again, this time with a mild hip strain that's "minimal" and will last 2 weeks. He'll be shut down for the final 5 regular season games and play through it in the first couple of playoff games. He ends his final Rays regular season a very good 311/399/475 with 12 HR and 53 RBI in 366 AB, productive when healthy.
Playoff Race Update: Minnesota won, Kansas City lost, and Oakland beat Seattle head-to-head so here's where we stand: In the Central KC is 1/2 game up on Minnesota (even in the loss column), and in the wild card race, Minnesota and Oakland are tied for the wild cards although Minnesota has 2 games in hand (they have a doubleheader with the White Sox Friday) and Seattle is 1/2 game behind both of them. About as tight as it gets.
September 27: Optioned OF Michael Valdez to AA Montgomery, recalled SS Jeff Baez from AAA Durham.
Baez was needed with Widmar being shelved for the final 5 games.
Game 3: The Rays rode a couple of big homers and some fine pitching to a 6-2 win over the Yankees. Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the 5th, Will Quintana unloaded HR #6 of the season to give the Rays a 2-1 lead, and after the teams exchanged runs Jeff Baez, just called back up, also hit his 6th, a 3-run shot in the 8th to put the game away. Andy Aparicio started and pitched well, going 6 5 2 1 2 7 in his final start of the regular season but cost himself a shot at win #18 when Ivan Vega took him deep in the 6th to tie the game. After Billy Hoyte got out of a self-inflicted bases-loaded jam in the 7th, Omar Rodriguez singled in the go-ahead run and Hoyte ended up with his 2nd win of the season. Mike Wherry had a clean 8th and Tim Siqueiros whiffed a pair in the 9th to finish it out. Here's a look at Aparicio's numbers the last 3 seasons after his MVP/Cy Young 2031:
Amazing consistency in the BB/K numbers but look at how the ERA jumps around. Of course the main reason it ballooned nearly 1 1/2 runs/game this year is the home run ball as he allowed 37 this year as opposed to 23 and 25 the previous 2.
Playoff race update: Minnesota lost, Kansas City won, and Seattle shut out Oakland. So it's now Royals back up 1 1/2 in the Central, and Seattle 1/2 game up on Minnesota and Oakland in the wild card race. This likely comes down to the final day.
Game 4: The Rays took the final game of the series 9-4 from the Yankees as Nate Schultz reached the 20-win mark again despite a mixed bag of an outing. Schultz went 6 7 4 4 0 10 to grab the win, and the while the strikeouts were nice he gave up a pair of homers and finishes the year having allowed 19 ER in 18 1/3 innings over his final 4 starts. His ERA rose from 2.87 to 3.46 in that span and hopefully he can arrest this trend as he's slated to start Game 1 of the ALDS. Still with the win he finishes 20-5 and is now 46-7 as a Ray over two seasons including last year's playoffs. Danny Medina was nasty today, allowing only 1 hit and whiffing 4 over the final 3 innings to get save #5. On offense Bo Angeac had a first-inning slam (#25) while Dayle Jenkins (#11) and Victor de Jesus (#44) added 2-run blasts later. de Jesus is in an intrasquad battle with Danny Ayala for the AL HR crown and now has a 44-42 lead (former Ray Jasson Dominguez leads MLB with 50).
Team record: 120-39, our 4th 120-win season and 3rd in the last 4 years. Next up: 3 games at home vs Toronto to close out the regular season.
Playoff race update: A big day for the Royals, who beat Cleveland while Minnesota lost to Detroit. They've virtually wrapped up the Central now, 2 1/2 up on the Twins with a magic # of 2. The winner in relief today for KC was Rays legend Jose Alvarado, who's had a great bounce-back season with them after a miserable (5.10 ERA) year in Philly. He's 8-1, 1.95 and hasn't allowed a homer all year covering 73 2/3 innings. We could possibly see him in the ALCS. Elsewhere Seattle lost in Texas so the wild race shakes out as thus: Seattle and Oakland are now tied for the two wild cards while Minnesota is 1/2 game back of them with a doubleheader to play tomorrow.