ATLANTA — By the time the Rays get home Thursday night, they could be bound for a trip to the postseason.
Tampa Bay’s 7-2 win over the Braves on Wednesday night at Truist Park, combined with losses by the Rangers and Blue Jays earlier in the day, reduced Tampa Bay’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot to two.
The Rays can reduce that number to one by completing a three-game sweep of the Braves on Thursday afternoon. If the Rangers lose to the Mariners again later Thursday afternoon, Tampa Bay will be back in the postseason for the first time since 2023.
But that’s not the only scenario for the Rays to punch their ticket to the postseason on Thursday. Because the Guardians lost to the Orioles and the White Sox lost to the Pirates on Wednesday, the Rays could also secure a spot in the playoffs with a win in Thursday’s finale and another White Sox defeat Thursday night.
Of course, it all hinges on the Rays taking care of their business first by completing a sweep at Truist Park on Thursday.
“It’s not at the forefront of my mind. I’m really just taking it one pitch at a time,” said Nick Martinez, who will start the series finale. “Continue to do my job of keeping us in a ballgame to win this ballgame and go from there. I don’t want to think too far ahead. Just want to worry about the one in front of us.”
Still, all the possibilities should make for a rather eventful day after another relatively stress-free romp over the National League East-leading Braves on Wednesday night.
Griffin Jax looked much sharper in his second start back from the injured list, allowing just one run on two hits and a walk over five efficient innings. Meanwhile, the Rays continued their recent offensive surge by scoring three runs in the second inning and three more in the fourth against Braves starter Reynaldo López.
Victor Mesa Jr., who turned 25 on Tuesday, launched his 11th home run of the season to get the Rays on the board in the second. Chandler Simpson and Richie Palacios reached on a single and a walk, respectively, then advanced on a double-steal. That put them both in position to score on a two-out single by former Brave Jorge Mateo.
That part of the order came through again in the fourth. Mesa singled, Simpson walked, then Cedric Mullins and Palacios delivered back-to-back RBI singles. Mateo dropped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners, then Yandy Díaz capped the rally with a sacrifice fly.
The Rays have scored at least six runs in each of their past five games, and they’ve won four of those. They’ve found a variety of ways to score during this stretch, as they have all season, putting up 33 runs with 10 homers and 10 steals in that span.