TORONTO _ The six-month season of ups, downs and injuries these Rays players went through certainly seemed long enough. The six-year wait for the team executives, officials and the couple guys still in uniform was at times interminable.
So when they recorded the final out of their 6-2 win over the Blue Jays on Friday, and the Indians made the final out of their 8-2 loss in Washington, the celebration to mark the Rays first trip back to the postseason since 2013 was understandably wild.
The Rays (96-64) now advance to the AL wild-card game at 8:09 p.m. Wednesday against the A's which most likely, though not definitely, will be in Oakland.
If the A's, who played late Friday, were to lose their final three and the Rays were to win their next two, the game would be at the Trop as the Rays would finish a game ahead of them. If they finish tied, the game would be in Oakland because the A's win the tiebreaker based on a 4-3 edge in the season series.
Charlie Morton is expected to start for the Rays and Sean Manaea likely for the A's, but those details, and others like setting a 25-man roster, are for another day.
Friday was about what the Rays accomplished, and they had 225 bottles of Bottega champagne and dozens of cases of beer to celebrate it.
"We're very proud of what we've done," centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier, the only player left from the 2013 team, said before Friday's game. "With facing some adversity, key players getting hurt, and guys stepping up and doing their jobs to allow us to be in this position heading into the last weekend of the season. It's amazing.
"You have to tip your hat to put the front office did with all the talent that we've acquired many different ways, and you've got homegrown guys who came up and did a great job. It's just an absolute joy to be a part of this team, this organization. And I'm happy that we're finally, back in the mix of things once again."
Knowing they needed some combination of two wins and Indians losses to clinch on Friday, the mood among the Rays pre-game was one of anticipation and excitement, with a few "it's just like any other day" cliches mixed in.
"I think every single one of us is aware of the situation," third baseman Matt Duffy said. "If somebody says they're not, I think they're lying to you. Or they don't have a smart phone."
After getting runners on in the first two innings vs. Jays rookie T.J. Zeuch, the Rays took the lead in the third.
Joey Wendle led off with a single, then with one out Tommy Pham laced a first-pitch curveball over the leftfield fence. It was the first homer since Aug. 31 for Pham, who has been limited by right hand and elbow issues and had been in a 2-for-21 skid.
The Rays extended the lead to 3-0 in the fourth. Rookie Nate Lowe, starting in place of injured Ji-Man Chou, drew a leadoff walk, went to second on a groundout and scored on a single by Willy Adames, who'd been robbed on a run-scoring hit his first time up on a diving catch by Jays rightfielder Billy McKinney.
Tyler Glasnow delivered a dazzling start, working into the fifth without allowing a hit, and throwing 66 pitches in doing so. That was Glasnow's fourth start back following a nearly four-month stint on the injured list, and the Rays were hoping he could work at least through four innings to get further stretched out for potential division series duty should they get that far.
Colin Poche followed Glasnow, and while he ended the no-hitter suspense by allowing a double to the first batter he faced, he got the Rays through the sixth.
But the seventh didn't go as well. Chaz Roe gave up a leadoff single to Vlad Guerrero Jr. and manager Kevin Cash switched to Oliver Drake. He got a ground ball for a force at second, but then gave up a two-run homer to Teoscar Hernandez that cut the lead to 3-2.
The Rays came back and added on in the eighth. Travis d'Arnaud singled, Nate Lowe doubled and Avisail Garcia delivered an RBI single to make it 4-2. Then a passed ball made it 5-2.
Austin Meadows hit his 33rd homer in the ninth to extend the margin to 6-2.
This will be the Rays first trip to the playoffs since 2013, when they were under different management, with Andrew Friedman running baseball operations and Joe Maddon in the dugout. They made it the postseason four times in a six-year window under that leadership team, starting with their 2008 breakthrough season that took them all the way to the World Series. They won AL East titles in 2008 and 2010, and earned wild-card spots in 2011 and 2013.
The wild-card berth capped a season of ups and downs.
The Rays got off to a sizzling 14-4 start, held the best record in the majors through the first three weeks of the season and led the AL East into mid-June, getting as many as 17 games over .500 at 41-24.
But an 18-24 run slowed them considerably, and, days after learning top starter Blake Snell was headed for elbow surgery, a staggering July 27 loss in Toronto, in which they took a 9-3 lead into the eighth and lost 10-9 in 12 innings, dropped them to 59-48.
In retrospect, their win the following day may have been the biggest of many significant ones down the stretch. Down 8-1 to the Jays headed to the sixth, the Rays staged the dramatic comeback this time, and won 10-9.
From that point on, they are 36-16, the second best mark in the majors along with the A's, and just behind the Astros. (And just ahead of the Twins and Yankees, completing the AL playoff field.)
The strong finish was impressive, and dramatic as the Rays swept the Indians in an Aug. 20-Sept. 1 series to move back into the wild-card pairing and stayed there, including a rigorous stretch of going 6-2 against the Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees, winning three straight games in 11 innings and another three days later in 12.
