Rays to host Rangers in Wild Card series

TORONTO — The Rays now know who they will be hosting in the best-of-three American League Wild Card Series that starts Tuesday at Tropicana Field, and it’s somewhat of a surprise — the Texas Rangers.

That matchup seemed somewhat unlikely entering the weekend — and even Sunday morning — when there were eight scenarios and five had the Rays facing the Blue Jays, two the Rangers and one the Astros.

But the Rangers, who went into play Thursday with a 2½-game lead in the American League West, lost three of four to the Mariners, including 1-0 Sunday in Seattle.

They lost out on the division title when the Astros beat the Diamondbacks Sunday to match their 90 wins and held the tiebreaker. Instead of a firstround bye, the Rangers have a long flight to Tampa Bay and a date with the Rays.

That the Rays beat the Blue Jays 12-8 put a good finish on what is now a 99-win season but was not a factor in determining the matchup. The Jays finish as the No. 6 seed and will play the Twins.

The Rays went 2-4 this season against the Rangers, winning two of three at the Trop in June. They have met twice before in the postseason, with the Rangers winning Division Series matchups in 2010 and 2011.

Sunday’s Rays game also was eventful in several ways:

Yandy Diaz won the American League batting title, the first by a Ray, without playing as Texas’ Corey Seager went 0-for-4 and dropped to .327. Diaz hit .330.

The Rays set a franchise record for runs scored with 860, surpassing their 857 in 2021.

They also set a franchise record for home runs with 230, surpassing the 228 hit in 2027.

They won 99 games, secondmost in franchise history behind 100 in 2021.

Rookie Junior Caminero, the 20-year-old top prospect, hit his first big-league homer. And Jonathan Aranda hit his first grand slam.

One personal achievement not reached was Isaac Paredes falling short of the 100-RBI mark. He finished with 98 to go with his 31 homers.

Both teams rested several starters and called up minorleaguers to start: Jacob Lopez for the Rays, Wes Parsons for the Jays.

It worked out better for the Rays, who took charge early with a seven-run 12-batter second inning keyed by Aranda’s grand slam.

Lopez gave the Rays the long outing they wanted to limit use of their bullpen, working into the seventh.

With three potential opponents, manager Kevin Cash said before the game the Rays were trying to cover all options.

“I don’t know how you can prepare,” he said. “We’ve just had three different conversations about three different clubs. Two-thirds of them are going to be a complete waste of time. The other third, maybe it’s a benefit to know who we’re going to be going home to at the Trop.

“I think the good thing is that this team’s worked really hard. There is some sense of homefield advantage going back home, and then we’ll see how it plays out. Should be a pretty exciting day to watch the scoreboard and see what other clubs are doing.”