Rays, A’s fill out playoff field
The creative Rays and the tenacious A’s earned playoff spots Friday night, filling out the 10-team field for the Major League Baseball postseason.
Most of the pairings and sites are still to be determined before the playoffs begin Tuesday night with the NL wild-card game. Any tiebreakers that need to be decided on the field would be played Monday.
The Rays, back in the playoffs for the first time since 2013, and the A’s will meet Wednesday night in the AL wild-card game, with the host to be settled. The injury-plagued Indians were eliminated with an 8-2 loss to the Nationals.
Nationals ace Max Scherzer is set to start the NL wild-card game against the Cardinals or Brewers. The winner of that game will begin the Division Series on Thursday at Dodger Stadium against NL West chamions.
The same day, Freddie Freeman and the NL East champion Braves take on the Central winner, either the Cardinals or Brewers.
The AL division champs — the Astros in the West, the Yankees in the East and the Twins in the Central — will start the best-of-five Division Series on Friday.
The Rays have the lowest payroll in the majors at $66 million. The Rays pioneered the use of a reliever to start a game for an inning or two, an opener concept that has spread throughout baseball.
“We do some crazy stuff and people scratch their heads a lot,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said after a clinching 6-2 win against the Blue Jays. “These guys don’t care. They want to win.”
Charlie Morton will start against the A’s.