ST . PETERSBURG, Fla. — You know something? It turns out they can get pretty loud at Tropicana Field when there are … well, people in here. They actually had 20,390 in the house Wednesday night. This is what qualifies as turnaway business at The Trop, even in a pennant race.
(They drew under 9,000 Monday night, which looks like a typo but was actually a modest exaggeration, probably. And the Red Sox were in town, usually a big draw in times when they haven’t been mathematically eliminated. And the Rays are very much in a postseason drive. And yet: flies. It’s an odd way for the locals to insist they don’t want this team in Montreal or Portland or Las Vegas sometime soon.)
But they really can fill the place with noise, and with joy, especially on nights — like Wednesday, unlike Tuesday — when the Rays fans actually outnumber the Yankees fans. Charlie Morton gave them plenty to cheer about, tossing six shutout innings. The offense, as usual, gave them just enough to shout about, scratching out four runs, enough to hold off the Yankees and hold them to but one hit in a 4-0 win.
The Yankees found themselves in an unusual position the past two nights: playing critical games that weren’t necessarily critical to them. Oh, home-field is important, and getting Game 7 of an ALCS in The Bronx rather than Houston would be a nice perk, but the Astros were always going to be tough to catch, and the magic number keeps getting smaller.
The Yankees clinched the playoffs weeks ago and knew they were going to play in October months ago. The Rays, who won their 95th game, still don’t know. They entered play half a game ahead of Cleveland and half a game behind Oakland in the wild-card standings, and of those three one will be staying home.
So everything about these two games with the Yankees felt like a mini-season being decided. When Ji-Man Choi walked it off Tuesday night in the 12th, a small crowd of 16,699 sounded like twice that. And when the Rays jumped out to a 2-0 first-inning lead Wednesday, and Morton started piling up zeroes, you could sense the relief with every passing minute.
“This is what they’re capable of,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “This is why they’re in the position they’re in.”
The Yankees?
They wanted to win these games, but they didn’t need to win these games, and so there was a difference. Boone still made regular trips to get his bullpen work. Aroldis Chapman pitched the bottom of the eighth Wednesday night. There were plenty of regulars planted in the lineup, enough that Boone probably could have expected more than one run in 21 innings.
They got swept anyway. They play three final games in Arlington, Texas, three final games in a setting that has been very, very good to them in Octobers past, and there won’t even be a hint of drama in any of the 27 innings (minimum) to come. The competitive portion of the Rangers’ schedule ended years ago. The Yankees might keep peeking at what the Astros do in Anaheim, but that’s mostly clerical work.
The Yankees are 102-57 and stuck in a holding pattern. It is still eight days before they will play another meaningful game. This group is too professional, and has endured too much this year, for that to have any real impact on what will follow.
Still … it’s easy to miss the juice. Even with their dearth of fans, the Rays have juice. In the ninth inning Wednesday, they cheered loudly as Brett Gardner struck out. They roared when Giancarlo Stanton flailed at strike three. And all 20,390 were on their feet when Gleyber Torres struck out to end the game.
Most nights, you can fit a Rays crowd snugly into George M. Steinbrenner Field, on the other side of the bay. It didn’t matter this night. The Rays needed to win. They won. It looked like fun. The fun doesn’t resume for the Yankees for at least another week.