ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It's Troptober time in Tampa Bay!
The Rays are prepared to face the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field this week in the wild card round of the 2023 MLB Playoffs.
After starting the season in historic fashion with a 14-0 record, the Rays had a bumpy July but eventually returned back to form in the late part of the season to earn the No. 4 seed in the AL and will now host all the games in the wild card round.
Here's everything you need to know as the playoffs are set to begin.
Schedule
Tampa Bay's wild card series against Texas will take place this week, beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 3 in a best-out-of-three series.
Both teams are guaranteed to play two games, but if necessary, a Game 3 will take place on Thursday, Oct. 5.
Below is the full schedule and how you can watch each game.
- Game 1: 3:08 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3 (ABC)
- Game 2: 3:08 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4 (ABC)
- Game 3: 3:08 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5 (ABC)
Tickets
Good news, Rays fans – plenty of tickets are still available for all of the team's wild card games!
Tickets for all games are as low as $30, and the highest priced tickets for Game 1 are $461, while Games 2 and 3's most expensive tickets cost $255.
All sections of Tropicana Field will be available for seating, including the 300 section, which was mainly closed throughout the regular season.
The team says on its website Game 3 is subject to change depending on if the series goes that far. If Game 3 is not played but fans have already bought a ticket for it, they will be refunded to the credit card used to buy them within 10 business days of the scheduled game.
The Rays say no refunds will be issued for played games.
"All Postseason tickets are mobile-only," the team wrote on its website. "Contactless mobile tickets are accessed by fans on the MLB Ballpark app, which can be downloaded at the App Store or Google Play. Paper tickets, including print-at-home, PDF versions and screenshots, are not available or accepted."
For more ticket information, click here.
Know your opponent
The Texas Rangers finished the regular season with a 90-72 record, claiming the No. 5 seed and second wild card spot.
The Rays bested the Rangers' record with a 99-63 record.
The two teams played two series this year, one at each other's ballpark.
The first series was played at Tropicana Field in early June, and the Rays won two out of the three games. However, when Tampa Bay and Texas met again in mid-July at Globe Life Field, the Rangers swept the Rays.
Since then, the two teams did more than enough to secure a playoff spot, but with the Rays having a 53-28 home record, they should be favored to go through.
Injuries
Two Rays players we've been keeping an eye on are Luke Raley and Jose Siri.
Both were practicing inside Tropicana Field on Monday to see if they'd be ready to go for the wild card series against Texas.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said he's encouraged by what he saw, but won't make a final decision until Tuesday.