Evan Longoria was fighting injuries the entire first half of the season. He struggles to hit. Tampa Bay hung around the. On occasion, they would get to maybe 10 games over, but then they would go on a tailspin and find themselves again fighting to stay above. Nobody believed they had a shot at making the postseason. Probably not even the Rays themselves believed they had a chance.
In September, when it is time to start pushing season tickets for the next year, they were hesitant to advertise postseason ticket guarantees if people put deposits down for next season.
There was no way they were going to catch the Red Sox or Yankees. Both of them were up in the 30 games over. The Rays were hanging around down in the 10 games over district. Boston started to struggle in September, and when it had to make a three-game visit to Tropicana Field, its lead had slipped to 6. After all, the Sox only needed to win one game of the three to leave with a 5. The Rays needed a sweep to give themselves any hope.
And a sweep they got. They cut the Sox's lead to 3. Its goal was to cut the Boston lead down to two games. The Rays started by losing two of three to the Baltimore Orioles. Meanwhile, the Sox were winning two of three. So when the Rays got to Fenway, they were down four. On Thursday night, the first game of the series, they ripped the Sox, Then on Friday night, Longoria belts a two-run shot off Josh Beckett in the top of the first inning.
With ace James Shields on the mound, this is looking good, but the Sox quickly tie it back up in the bottom of the first. Now, the Rays are down four with only two games left against Boston. To top it off, they are still looking at seven games to play against the mighty Yankees, while the Sox have seven left with lowly Baltimore. It's looking bleak. The Rays keep fighting and take the last two games at Fenway.
The lead is now down to two games. If they can go to Yankee Stadium and keep the pace, they will have attained their goal to cut the lead down to two when they get back to Florida for the final six games.
However, Yankee Stadium is one tough place to play at. The Rays lose the first game, Then they are to play a double header the next day. Both AL division series are currently scheduled to start next Friday, but if two rounds of play-in games were needed to determine the wild-card winner, the first round of the playoffs would be pushed back a day. That would probably lead Major League Baseball to eliminate the scheduled off day between Games 2 and 3 of the division series.
A two-team tie for the wild card would force a one-game playoff on Thursday, Sept. The Red Sox won the season series against the Angels, , so they would have home field for a one-game playoff between Boston and L. The Rays and Angels split their season series, however, so home field would go to the team with the better intra-division record.
Tampa Bay vs. AL East holds a comfortable edge over the Angels vs. AL West there. Angels outfielder Peter Bourjos has a lot of keepsake baseballs at home. And he has promised to bring one to spring training next year to show to Vernon Wells — because Wells autographed it. Bourjos was at an Arizona Fall League game in Peoria with his father, a big league scout, when Wells homered. Champions League. Europa League.
International Soccer. Scottish Premiership. Fantasy Premier League. Women's College Basketball. Sports Business. Bay Area. Kansas City. Las Vegas. Los Angeles. New Orleans. New York. San Antonio. San Diego. Tampa Bay. The New Jersey Devils ended up in the last wild card spot in the east.
Tampa has points and 48 ROW. Boston has points and 47 ROW. A win of any kind tonight gives Boston first place with points. If they lose in overtime or a shootout and tie in points, the ROW advantage of the Lightning gives them first place.
It is an interesting quirk of this near tie atop the Atlantic that two teams 8 points apart in the standings share identical playoff fates on the last day.
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