Some league honors:
What a season and what a second half for Barela.
Game 1: Josh Alexander hit a 2-run pinch-homer in the 9th (#46) to give him 150 RBI and to give the Rays a 4-3 win over the Yankees to open the final series of the regular season. Dan Anderson (6-3) got the win and Mike Barkley recorded save #29. Jim Brophy finished his regular season with a 6 2 1 1 2 3 outing and finishes his extremely likely Cy Young season at 22-3, 2.72. Unfortunately he missed the pitching triple crown in the AL by 1 strikeout to Houston's Elias Gomez.
Game 2: The Rays lost a 2-0 lead late but took a 3-2 win in 10 innings on Jon Callahan's RBI single. Brad Jackson closed the season in fine fashion with a 6 3 0 0 0 4 outing to finish 16-7, 4.45 and would have had the win had Alex Stephens not allowed a 2-run homer in the 8th. Seth Williams was 2-3 with an RBI double earlier.
October 4: Activated P Jose Mendoza from the 10-day IL, optioned P Aidan Williams to AAA Durham.
Game 3: Tampa Bay closed out the regular season with a 7-3 loss to the Yankees in New York. Jose Mendoza got the start for the first time in a month and was expectedly rusty, giving up 3 runs in the first but pitching two scoreless innings after that before coming out. Even Doug Johns got to pitch and he allowed 2 runs in 2 innings. Jose Mendez hit HR #24 for the highlight on offense.
Final Regular Season Record: 113-49. Next up: The ALDS opening at Publix Park against either the Yankees or the Royals.
MLB playoff race update: Things got briefly interesting in the NL when the Mets beat Atlanta the first two games, clinching the division for New York, and the Phillies split their two games with Columbus, leaving Philly with a shot at a tie on the final day with Atlanta for the 2nd NL wild card. But the Phils lost and Atlanta won, so it's Atlanta at Arizona in a few nights for the right to face San Francisco in the NLDS.