They were three outs away from a loss and a flight to Seattle for the start of their longest road trip of the season. Three outs away from winning four games on a six-game homestand.
That's good, but good is sometimes the difference between winning the division title and entering the playoffs as the Wild Card.
After all the Tampa Bay Rays had been through during the first 10 years of the franchise's history, earning the American League Wild Card would have been more than good. It would have been great.
But who knows where the Rays would stand today?
They would have opened the postseason in Anaheim, that is certain.
Then what?
Who knows?
We know this: The Rays open the American League Championship Series on Friday night against the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field because they finished the season with two more wins than the Red Sox.
They managed that because in one of their 97 victories they paused long enough before packing their bags for that longest road trip of the season to rally for six runs in the ninth and an improbable 10-7 victory against the Cleveland Indians.
The Rays, who had the best home record in baseball during the regular season, have the homefield advantage against the Red Sox in the ALCS thanks to a handful of improbable wins. Here's a look at those unbelievable moments:
May 8: Rays 8, Blue Jays 3 (13 innings) - Troy Percival blew the save, and those players who have been around for a few years agree this was a game the Rays lose as recently as last season. But Percival did not allow that fourth run in the ninth, and the game headed to extra innings. Dan Wheeler pitched out of a no-out, runner-at-third jam, and the Rays scored five times in the 13th for the victory. Carl Crawford drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly, and Dioner Navarro finished off the Jays with a grand slam.
June 1: Rays 4, White Sox 3 (10) - Gabe Gross hit the first home run of his career off a left-handed pitcher when he took Matt Thornton deep in the 10th inning for the walk-off win.
June 19: Rays 8, Cubs 3 - Carl Crawford's grand slam highlighted a seventh-run seventh as the Rays complete a three-game sweep of the Cubs.
July 18: Rays 2, Blue Jays 1 - Ben Zobrist hit a two-run homer in the seventh as the Rays rallied past the Jays and moved back into first place in the first game after the All-Star break.
Aug. 6: Rays 10, Indians 7 - Playing without B.J. Upton (benched) and Crawford (injured), the Rays erupted for six runs in the ninth. Gross hit a two-run homer to tie the score at 7-7, and Carlos Peña won the game with a three-run homer.
Sept. 9: Rays 5, Red Sox 4 - Dan Johnson hit the biggest home run in Rays history when he connected off Jonathan Papelbon for a pinch-hit leadoff homer in the ninth to tie the score. The Rays won in Boston for the first time this season when Fernando Perez and Dioner Navarro follow Johnson with back-to-back doubles.
Sept. 10: Rays 4, Red Sox 2 (14) - Peña hit a three-run homer in the top of the 14th, then Jason Hammel replaced an injured Percival and pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam as the Rays took two of three in Boston.
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