See you next year...
When it mattered the most, the Rays came up small, except for Wes Mendes, as the offense whimpered out in a 3-0 loss in the deciding Wild Card Game 3. It was a bad omen when they got leadoff doubles in the first two innings and failed to bring either man home, and those were the highlights as they had only 4 hits after that. Mendes pitched his heart out and was the tough-luck loser thanks to Royce Lewis tripling to lead off the game and scoring. Other than that he pitched his best game in Rays colors but an offense which scored 16 runs in the first two games couldn't rub two sticks together. So the 2031 Rays died as they lived: as colossal disappointments.
With the Rays eliminated I will just post series summaries for the remainder of the playoffs.