The Rays of Tampa Bay will miss the playoffs, but they can always influence the race of the American League East during their visit to the Blue Jays in Toronto on Friday evening.
The Rays (77-82) will try to avoid having to watch a celebration as they conclude their season with a series of three games against a team that tries to win the title of division.
“I am excited for that, and I have the impression of having done it for a long time,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash, who thinks that the series will be a precious experience for his young players.
“They will be excited, and it will be noisy. The whole country of Canada will be behind them, rightly so. The Toronto Blue Jays have had a great season.”
The Blue Jays (91-68) are tied for first place in Al East with New York Yankees but hold the equality break.
Toronto had seen a five game advance evaporating by losing six out of seven before recovering the final of a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox with a 6-1 victory on Thursday.
“Many people have not chosen us to win the division,” said Daulton Varsho, whose great home in sixth round opened a goalless match on Thursday.
“We have gone beyond everyone’s standards and now everyone is holding that, saying that we have to earn the division. Well, we have money from the house and continue.”
Toronto manager John Schneider hopes that Slam marks a turnaround for the team’s difficulty in difficulty.
“It’s a bit like blowing up a ball,” he said. “We crossed it. … Sometimes it takes a swing like that.”
The Rays, who come out of a 6-5 defeat against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, separated four games with the Blue Jays last week in Tampa.
The Blue Jays should start the right-hander Shane Bieber (3-2, 3.57 ERA) on Friday. He had to start on Thursday, but he was decided to give him an additional day between departures.
Bieber has a 2-2 sheet with a 3.22 in six career starts against the Rays. He has not faced them since 2022.
The rays should counter with the right-hander Adrian Houser (8-4, 3.18).
HOUSER has a 1-2 file with an MPM of 5:32 in four career games against the Blue Jays, although it is 1-0 with an MPM of 2.03 in two departures against them this season.
A Bye in the first round could be important for the Blue Jays.
This would give more time to the Bo Bichette (knee of the stride) and right-handers Chris Bassitt (rear) and Jose Berrios (Elbow) which appear on the injured list.
Berrios, who launched relief on Wednesday, was placed on the injured list Thursday with inflammation in his right elbow. The right-hander Paxton Schultz was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo.
This is the first passage on the Il in his 10 -year career for Berrios and Schneider said that he has dealt with the problem “for some time”.
Last week, the Berrios in difficulty was withdrawn from the starting rotation and put in the enclosure of the lifts.
The Rays will try to avoid falling in the last place in the Al East. They are two games ahead of the orioles of fifth place.
“We want to go and do well and play a good baseball and see where he is going,” said Cash, a former Blue Jays recipient. “But kiss this atmosphere as much as possible. Because when you are in these types of atmospheres, it means that you play for something.”
– field level media
