MLB PLAYOFF PREVIEW CAPSULE

AL DIVISION SERIES Season Series: Rays won 8-2.

NEW YORK YANKEES

Record: 33-27.

Playoff Entry: second place, AL East.

Playoff Seed: No. 5.

Manager: Aaron Boone (third season).

Projected Rotation: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-3, 2.84 ERA, 94

Ks), RHP Masahiro Tanaka (3-3, 3.56, 44 Ks), LHP J.A. Happ (2-2, 3.47, 42 Ks), RHP Deivi Garcia (3-2, 4.98, 33 Ks in 34 1⁄ IP

3 as rookie).

Top Hitters: 1B Luke Voit (.277, major league-leading 22 HRs, 52 RBIs), 2B DJ LeMahieu (major league-leading .364, 10, 27, 41 runs, 10 doubles, 1.011 OPS).

Top Relievers: LHP Aroldis Chapman (1-1, 3.09 ERA, 3 saves), LHP Zack Britton (1-2, 1.89, 8 saves). RHP Chad Green (3-3, 3.51, 1 save, 32 K in 25 2/3 IP).

Series Summary: The Yankees are in the playoffs for the fourth straight year but still looking for their first pennant since winning the 2009 World Series. … Favored to win the AL East, the Yankees alternated hot and cold spurts: a 16-6 start following by a 5-15 slide, a 10-game winning streak and six losses in their last eight games. … Played much better in the Bronx, going 22-9 at home and 11-18 on the road. … Offense was reliant on home runs, with 156 of 315 runs scoring on long balls during the regular season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, then 13 of 22 runs scoring on seven homers in the two-game sweep at Cleveland during first round of playoffs. The wild 10-9 win in Game 2 was the longest nine-inning game in major league history at 4 hours, 50 minutes. … New York’s fielding percentage was its worst since 1973.

TAMPA BAY RAYS

Record: 40-20.

Playoff Entry: AL East champions.

Playoff Seed: No. 1.

Manager: Kevin Cash (sixth season).

Projected Rotation: LHP Blake Snell (4-2, 3.24 ERA, 63 Ks in 50 IP), RHP Tyler Glasnow (5-1, 4.08, 91 Ks in 57 1⁄ IP), RHP 3 Charlie Morton (2-2, 4.74, 42 Ks in 38 IP).

Top Hitters: 2B Brandon Lowe (.269, 14 HRs, 37 RBIs, 36 runs, .916 OPS), SS Willy Adames (.259, 8, 23, .813 OPS).

Top Relievers: RHP Nick Anderson (2-1, 0.55 ERA, 6 saves), RHP Pete Fairbanks (6-3, 2.70), RHP Diego Castillo (3-0, 1.66, 4 saves).

Series Summary: The Rays are AL East champions for first time since 2010, third time overall. They won nine of their final 11 regular-season games, finishing 20 games over .500 and completing the best 60-game start to a season in franchise history. It also matched the best 60-game stretch the club has had at any point in a season. … Counting their two-game sweep of the wild-card Blue Jays in the first round of the playoffs, the Rays enter the ALDS on an eight-game winning streak. … It is Tampa Bay’s sixth trip to the ALDS since 2008. Only the Dodgers (10), Yankees (8), Red Sox (8) and Cardinals (7) have made more Division Series appearances during that span. … The win over Toronto ended a streak of five consecutive losses in multi-game postseason series dating to the 2008 World Series.