Before starting the postseason, here's a look at the final 2021 MLB Standings and hitting leaders:
September 28: NL Wild Card Game - Washington (Garrett Richards 12-5, 3.34) at New York Mets (Jacob deGrom 16-4, 2.74)
Scherzer and Strasburg both suffered season-ending injuries so Richards becomes the de facto ace of the Nationals staff. He too, like he did during his stint with the Rays last year, has a habit of leaving games early with minor injuries so who knows how long he'll last in this game. deGrom, of course, is deGrom, so it may not matter. The Mets are in their second straight wild card game, having lost in the 9th inning in San Diego last year.
The Mets drew first blood in the bottom of the 2nd when JD Davis took a Richards fastball into the left field seats to make it 1-0. The Nats tied it in the top of the 6th when consecutive singles by Trea Turner, Juan Soto and Victor Robles starting the inning produced a run, but despite runners at first and third with one out they couldn't push across another. Richards walked two men in the bottom of the 7th with one out, but Ian Kennedy came on to get out of the inning as deGrom was pinch-hit for. The game was then turned over to the closers in the 8th, with Edwin Diaz (who had nearly 2Ks per inning this season) got a 1-2-3 eighth with two Ks, and Will Harris came on in the bottom for the Nats and did likewise. Diaz then fanned 2 more in a 1-2-3 ninth, and in the bottom Brandon Nimmo singled with one out, stole second, but was stranded there when Harris fanned Wilson Ramos and pinch-hitter Ahmed Rosario so off to extras we went. Seth Lugo came on for the Mets and had a scoreless inning, and Tanner Scott came on for the Nats and immediately allowed a leadoff double to Andres Gimenez. Tommy Pham was intentionally walked and then Michael Conforto was unintentionally walked to load the bases with no outs. And then the wild Scott walked Pete Alonso to force in the winning run and give the Mets a 2-1, 10-inning win setting them up to be the sacrificial lambs for the 110-win Dodgers. deGrom was named MVP of the game for his 7 6 1 1 0 6 line.
Kevin Kiermaier injury update: He has a fractured hand and will miss 3-4 weeks so he's done for the season. For some reason OOTP won't let me add anyone to the playoff roster because I guess I set it on the Monday, leaving Kiermaier on because I wasn't sure of the extent of his injury. I tried adding Randy Arozarena and then Josh Lowe with no luck despite both being on the 40-man all year. I guess I'll have to play shorthanded for the WC game. Hopefully it will let me add someone if we win.
September 29: AL Wild Card Playoff Game - Toronto (Shun Yamaguchi 13-5, 3.93) at Tampa Bay (Tyler Glasnow, 11-9, 3.79)
Both starters fared quite well against their opponents this year, with Yamaguchi going 1-0 in 3 starts with a 1.88 ERA over 24 innings while Glasnow was 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 26 2/3, walking 8 and striking out 41.
Starting lineup for the Rays: Franco SS, Baez 3B, Meadows LF, Choi 1B, Renfroe RF, Schwarber DH, S.Perez C, Y.Diaz CF, Merrifield 2B.
Top 1st: (I'm going to "live-blog" as I play this, I doubt anyone's following but what the heck). Glasnow allowed a one-out single to Bo Bichette, who stole second but was stranded there when Lourdes Gurriel Jr struck out.
Bottom 1st: 1-2-3 go the Rays as Wander grounded out, Baez lined out and Meadows grounded out.
Top 2nd: 1-2-3 for Glasnow with a strikeout. He only needed 18 pitches over the first 2 innings.
Bottom 2nd: Ji-Man's consecutive streak of reaching base ended at 10 with a fly to left, Renfroe whiffed and Schwarber grounded out.
Top 3rd: Welp, Shogo Akiyama led off the inning with a homer to right, hopefully Glasnow is not mirroring his last start where he was sharp through 2 and fell apart in the 3rd. And now he walks Grichuk but gets Biggio to hit into a force out. Biggio proceeds to steal second and then Bichette bloops a single to center to score him. Rowdy Tellez grounds out but then Gurriel singles up the middle to score Bichette and it's 3-0. Glasnow strikes out Fisher but the damage is done.
Bottom 3rd: Perez grounds out, Diaz looks at a called third strike and Merrifield grounds out as the Rays are 9 up 9 down against Yamaguchi.
Top 4th: Glasnow allows a one-out single but gets Akiyama to roll into a double play.
Bottom 4th: Wander leads off the inning with a single up the middle but Baez lines out to center. Meadows bloops a single to right putting men on 1st and 2nd, and Ji-Man walks to load the bases for Renfroe, who hits a deep fly to left to score Wander and make it 3-1 Jays. Schwarber looks at a 2-2 strike to end the inning.
Top 5th: Glasnow walks Grichuk to start the inning, not a good omen, then wild pitches him to second and then proceeds to walk Biggio. Glasnow's day is over as Jays-killer Joe Ryan comes on. After striking out Bichette, he walks Rowdy Tellez to load the bases. Ryan gets Gurriel to hit a shallow fly to left forcing the runner to hold at 3rd and then whiffs Derek Fisher to end the inning.
Bottom 5th: After Sal Perez is robbed in center by Akiyama, Yusniel Diaz walks and then Merrifield laces a single to right sending Diaz to third. Wander then makes it 3-2 with a sac fly to center and Javy Baez follows with a single to put runners on first and second with two out but Meadows hits an infield pop fly to end the inning. Still, though, we creep back into it.
Top 6th: Ryan strikes out Espinal but gives up a single to Reese McGuire. After a strikeout of Akiyama he allows a single to Grichuk putting runners on 1st and 2nd but gets Biggio to ground out to end the threat.
Bottom 6th: The Rays go 1-2-3 as Ji-Man flies out, Renfroe strikes out and Schwarber flies to left.
Top 7th: After Bichette flies out, Ryan allows a Tellez single and then a Gurriel single. With the left-handed Fisher due up, Jose Alvarado is summoned from the pen. He gets Fisher to fly to deep center allowing Tellez to tag and go to 3rd and then walks Espinal to load the bases. But McGuire lines to Meadows and we're out of the inning.
Bottom 7th: Sal Perez looks at a third strike, and the Jays bring in Elvis Luciano to pitch to Diaz whereupon Yusniel greets him with a single to center. After a Merrifield whiff Wander lines out to left, and the inning is over as things are getting late.
Top 8th: Alvarado stays in to face the lefty Akiyama and gets him to ground out, and Nick Anderson comes on. He whiffs Grichuk but walks Biggio and Bichette yet gets out of it with a Tellez grounder to 2nd.
Bottom 8th: As the OOTP AI likes to do in playoff games, it brings the closer on to start the 8th and here comes Keith Ginkel, whom the Rays couldn't solve during the regular season. Sure enough, Baez hits a weak grounder to the mound, Meadows strikes out, and Ji-Man flies to center so the Rays are down to one last chance.
Top 9th: Anderson got Gurriel to fly out to start the inning, but with lefty Fisher due up Brad Hand comes in as it's all Hand(s) on deck. Hand whiffs Fisher and Santiago Espinal to send us to the bottom of the 9th where it's Renfroe, Schwarber and Perez.
Bottom 9th: Renfroe whiffs (for the third time today), Schwarber hits a pop to shallow right run down by Espinal, and not liking this Ginkel vs Perez righty-righty matchup I bring in the venerable Michael Brantley to pinch-hit. Well Perez couldn't have done any worse as Brantley whiffs to end the game and the Jays take the Wild Card Game 3-2 and will play the 105-win Yankees. Good luck guys, you'll need it!
Postscript: A disappointing end to a season that started with so much promise (32-13 and a division lead) that kind of devolved into mediocrity for the last 3-4 months of the season. 94 wins is nothing to sneeze at, but the promise was there for so much more. Baez and Schwarber produced as trade-deadline acquisitions but neither was a factor in today's game. I know that's unfair but the Rays were already a playoff team when these guys were picked up. The inability to beat the Yankees after the early season series sweep was big (although they finished 11 behind that juggernaut). Injuries didn't help either - Snell missed the 2nd half of the season, Glasnow missed about 6 weeks as did Wander and wasn't quite as consistently effective when he came back, as seen tonight.
But in reality it would have taken 106 wins to take the division and be assured of a full playoff series so getting this one-game shot was probably the most realistic outcome available (OK, maybe 102 or 103 wins if they beat the Yankees a few more times). That they lost it was disappointing but they probably weren't getting past the Yankees anyway. Ah such is the curse of playing in the AL East.
Most of this team of course comes back next year. The rentals Baez and Schwarber are gone, of course, as is Sal Perez, Chaz Roe, and Brad Hand. You saw how active I was during the season (and last off-season) so expect more wheeling and dealing. Right now the only positions truly open are C and 3B. Alec Bohm didn't quite hit enough to justify his 40 defense at the position and though I still like Bohm going forward I'm not putting all my eggs into his basket. Ronaldo Hernandez will get every chance to win a time-share at catcher after a strong AAA season and a vet will be brought in to join him (if Sal Perez's contract demands are reasonable he could be back). DH is open and I have several internal options there. Ji-Man could move there if I stick Bohm at 1B (he's a 70 defender there), or I could go with rookies Seth Beer (who had 28 HR and nearly 100 RBI in AAA last year) or Alex Kiriloff (less power but he hit well above .300). I'd also like Yusniel Diaz to get more at-bats than he'd have simply being Kiermaier's platoon partner so he could figure at DH as well. A lot will depend on how 3B shakes out and there are some guys I'm targeting in potential trade. I'll need a backup middle infielder next year as Galvis is a free agent. Wendle could come back but he's not that exciting, and I have my doubts about how much Taylor Walls can hit. I had originally targeted Vidal Brujan or Xavier Edwards for that role but both have long-term injuries with Brujan back in March and Edwards not until mid-season. There were a lot of middle infield options available for minor league contracts when the free agency musical chairs stopped last offseason, so that's an option too (especially one who can credibly play 3B). The overall key will be to get the offense out of its middle-of-the-AL pack ranking. There were too many games this year with 1, 2 or 3 runs (like today when they managed 2 runs on 5 singles). The other goal is for the Yankees to come back to Earth in some measure.
On the pitching staff assuming everyone stays healthy (a big if) I return the best 5-man rotation in the league with Snell, Glasnow, McKay, Fried and Ryan. And there's plenty of starting depth with Yonny, Trevor Richards, Conner Menez and Lucas Sims who all would be in about 25-27 other MLB rotations right now. Not to mention guys knocking on the door like Riley O'Brien, Shane McClanahan and Clarke Schmidt. In the bullpen, I'm leaning toward trading Taylor Rogers and the $7.5M he probably gets in arbitration as I was a bit underwhelmed with him in his Rays stint. I'd bring Hand back if he took that amount, but otherwise the bullpen is fairly deep with some of the starting candidates who don't make the rotation joining the 3 As, Adams, Alvarado and Anderson. If neither Rogers nor Hand comes back, I could go back to making Anderson the closer as he was in 2020 or Adams could take the role which he fared well in at Seattle before coming here. Diego Castillo had a terrible second half but relievers are volatile and I still hope he can have a significant role next year. Plus there's Jacob Nix and Dany Jimenez around too. McClanahan intrigues me as a power multi-inning lefty if he can't find a spot in the rotation as well.
With 40-man roster spots at a premium, there's a good chance some of this depth can be dealt in some 2 for 1 or 3 for 1 trades to bring back some impact players. I will get into the "who gets kept" aspect of the 40-man as the Rule 5 draft approaches. Homes probably need to be found for Randy Arozarena and Yandy Diaz, who are too good for AAA but probably not good enough to get at-bats for this team. Tristan Gray, who had a nice year at Durham, falls into this category too.