Rays claim first AL East title
Associated Press
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DETROIT — The wait is over.
The Tampa Bay Rays won their first AL East title late last night when the Boston Red Sox lost to the New York Yankees. The Rays lost, 6-4, to the Detroit Tigers earlier and had to sit through the rain-delayed Boston loss before celebrating their championship.
Manager Joe Maddon and a few of the players remained in the clubhouse at Comerica Park to watch the Red Sox game.
"It's one of those things where it's something you've fantasized about your whole life," Maddon said. "You can't believe it. You have to kind of wait and sit back. It just feels fantastic right now, wonderful."
After the Red Sox lost, Carlos Pena hugged teammate B.J. Upton and yelled "I told you we could do it! I told you we could do it!"
Tampa Bay, which had never won more than 70 games in a season, became the first team other than Boston and New York to win the division since Baltimore did it in 1997.
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PLAYOFF SCENARIOS (Records through yesterday) AL Central If the Chicago White Sox (86-73) and Minnesota Twins (87-73) are still within a half-game of each other after play is completed Sunday, Chicago must make up a rainout against the Detroit Tigers on Monday. If the White Sox and Twins finish with the same record, they would play a tiebreaker game Tuesday in Chicago. NL East If the New York Mets (88-72) and Philadelphia Phillies (90-70) finish with the same record and both have clinched a playoff spot, the Mets win the division and the Phillies are the wild card. If the Mets and Phillies finish with the same record and the Milwaukee Brewers (89-71) win the wild card, the Mets and Phillies would play at Philadelphia in a tiebreaker. NL Wild Card In the event New York or Philadelphia ties for the wild card and cannot win the division, they would host Milwaukee in a tiebreaker. Three teams with same record. In the event New York, Philadelphia and Milwaukee finish with the same record, the Mets and Phillies would play a tiebreaker at Philadelphia for the division title. The loser of that game would then play a wild-card tiebreaker against the Brewers. |
