Entering their four-game series v Yankees, the Rays are technically still alive by the slimmest of margins.
One game. That’s the magic number to eliminate the Rays from post-season contention with seven games remaining. The elimination can occur with a Rays loss or an Oakland win between now and this weekend.
One game.
If you asked anyone around baseball if the April-June version of this Rays team had a shot at the playoffs this year they would have laughed at you. Rightfully so. The year began an atrocious 4-13 after all the players lost to trades and/or free agency before and during spring training. Then there was the idea of a four-man rotation. Then, “the opener” was born.
So here they are. Three wins away from an unprecedented 90-win season. A 90-win season that will likely not be good enough to make the playoffs. The only way a post-season birth happens is if the Rays win out and the A’s lose out. An absolutely improbable situation. If, in fact, they are eliminated – it will mark the fourth time in franchise history such a thing has happened in the final week of the season. Since 2012 when the second wild card was introduced, only the 2013 Rangers missed the playoffs with 90+ wins.
If they can get to 90-wins it will be the sixth time they’ve done so in their 11 seasons as the Rays.
The task at hand
First thing’s first. The Yankees have clinched their spot in the post-season. They come to Tropicana Field beginning tonight for four games before the Blue Jays come to town for three to close out the season.
The Rays are 48-26 at home this season. That’s good for third-best on home turf in all of baseball behind the Red Sox and these Yankees.
With the Rays owning a slim 8-7 record over the Yankees this season, against all AL playoff-bound teams, they’re 29-25 overall with a +5 run differential. Their only losing record being against Boston (8-11).
Don’t think the Yankees are laying down these next four nights. They’re just 1.5 games up on Oakland for the top wild card spot in the AL.
Watch that scoreboard
Speaking of Oakland, they begin a three-game series in Seattle against the Mariners. They then close out the regular season on the road against the Angels. While it’s unlikely they’ll catch Houston, the A’s are 4.5 back for first place in the AL West.
