Breaking from my one-series-a-day routine to get the regular season over with.
Game 1: In a bit of an upset, Brett Honeywell Jr. outdueled former (and perhaps future) Cy Young winner Justin Bieber today in a 7-3 Rays win. Honeywell was an impressive 6 5 2 2 0 5 and moved to 2-0 in his second MLB start with Nick Anderson notching save #11. Vidal Brujan was the hitting star, going 3-4 with 3 RBI including one in the 6th to break a 2-2 tie. Wander Franco also doubled twice and drove in 3, and he now has 58 doubles on the season which is tied for the 10th-most in a single season in MLB history (he's tied with 2019 Nick Castellanos).
AL Wild Card race update: Advantage Minnesota as the Twins beat San Antonio while Kansas City lost to Detroit. The Twins now only need a combo of 2 of their own wins or Royals losses to clinch. Toronto was shut out in Baltimore and is now officially eliminated.
We also had a combined no-hitter as Kumar Rocker and 2 Texas relievers silenced Boston. Rocker (5 IP), Hyun-jong Yang (2.1) and Jose Leclerc (1.2) walked 5 and whiffed 6 in total.
Game 2: Wander Franco continued to make history as his 2-run double, his 59th of the season, broke a 3-3 tie in the 8th and led the Rays to a 6-4 win over Cleveland. Franco also singled in a run in the 9th. Here's where he stands on the all-time single-season doubles list:
Taylor Walls brought home the first 3 Tampa Bay runs with a homer (#3) while Josh Fleming picked up the win in relief of Matt Peacock, who struggled mightily at 4.2 8 3 3 5 2. Ken Giles notched save #39 despite allowing a Jose Ramirez homer.
AL Wild Card update: Minnesota is almost there after a 4-1 win over San Antonio, while Kansas City won to stay alive, a game back. Only a Twins loss and a Royals win will force a tiebreaker now.
Joe Ryan getting his due:
Game 3: The Rays concluded the regular season with a sweep of Cleveland to give them a remarkable 115 wins. Today's 8-5 triumph came largely from the bats of Jarren Duran, Randy Arozarena and Taylor Walls. Duran was 4-5 with 4 RBI, Arozarena was 3-4 with a HR (#25) and 3 RBI, and Walls was 2-3 with a double, a walk, 2 runs scored and an RBI. Luis Patino got his 5th win despite a shaky 5 7 4 4 2 5 outing thanks to Arozarena's go-ahead 2-run HR in the 6th and Nick Anderson struck out the side in the 9th for save #12, capping a brilliant season which saw him fan 114 in 63.2 innings with only 13 walks and good for 2.8 WAR, a whopping total for a reliever.
Final Regular Season Record: 115-47. Next up: the ALDS against the wild card winner.
AL Wild Card Race: And the Rays will face either Houston or Minnesota, as the Twins secured the second wild card with a win over San Antonio, which was needed because Kansas City beat Detroit.