Had the Tampa Bay Rays been so inclined, they could have let a Royals runner freely circle the bases in Sunday's 10th inning — think Joey Turner in Bad News Bears — in order to receive a head start in celebrating their second AL East title in three seasons.
But even with the New York Yankees' 8-4 loss to the Red Sox becoming official in Boston, the Rays apparently weren't content to back into the division title and homefield advantage via head-to-head tiebreaker.
A short time later, they clinched both prizes outright with a 3-2, 12-inning comeback victory over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
From the Associated Press:
"It took a little of the tension off," (Rays manager Joe) Maddon said. "We wanted to win this game. How ‘bout that? Extra innings, on the road, didn't need to win. It tells you something about our ballclub."
The victory allowed the Rays finished the season with a 96-66 record, one ahead of the Yankees at 95-67. They'll open the ALDS at Tropicana Field against the Texas Rangers while the wild card-winning Yankees will be forced to travel to face the Minnesota Twins in Game 1. If Tampa Bay wins the ALDS, they'll also open the ALCS at home.
Neither team acted like the division title was the top priority down the stretch and it seemed on Sunday as if the Rays would again act like a toddler in front of lima beans.
In other words, they crossed their arms, shook their heads and refused to open their mouths through eight innings . They trailed the Royals 2-0 heading into the final frame and it appeared as if they'd be forced to accept the AL East even though they were about to lose three of four to the Royals and be the victims of shutouts started by both Bruce Chen(notes) and Sean O'Sullivan(notes).
But Carlos "We wanted to take matters into our own hands" Pena hit a two-run double off Joakim Soria(notes) in the top of the ninth, Rocco Baldelli(notes) scored on an error in the 12th and closer Rafael Soriano(notes) withstood a late rally to notch his 45th save of the season. Save the tiebreaker. Bring on the champagne.
Maybe homefield advantage will matter in the playoffs. Maybe it won't. But when these Rays look back on their careers, I'm guessing they'll be happier seeing two AL East flags on their resumes instead of just one flag paired with a wild card banner.
I'm also guessing they'll be glad they didn't back into one. After all, if 9=8 in the Rays universe, then 96 > 95 as well. (Yeah, I don't know how that computes either, but let's just go with it.)
Related: Bruce Chen, Joakim Soria, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers
No comments:
Post a Comment