Blue Jays will face top-seed Rays in wild-card series

The Toronto Blue Jays will face the Tampa Bay Rays during the first round of the 2020 playoffs after losing to the Baltimore Orioles in the final game of the season.

The three-game series will run from Sept. 29-Oct. 1 and be played entirely at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

The Blue Jays needed to win their final contest against the Orioles and the New York Yankees had to lose to the Miami Marlins for Toronto to finish higher. The Yankees wound up losing 5-0 to finish 33-27, but the Jays lost 7-5 to go 32-28.

The Blue Jays went 4-6 against the Rays and 3-4 at the Trop throughout the campaign with the Rays acting as the home team. The Jays outscored Tampa 48-44 in those 10 games despite losing the season series.

The club has not officially chosen its Game 1 starters, but the expectation is Hyun-Jin Ryu will take the mound for Toronto. The left-hander authored a 2.69 ERA and 3.01 FIP over 12 starts this year.

The Rays rank as one of the best in the AL against southpaws despite relying heavily on left-handed hitters. Collectively, the team has hit .341/.455/.796 against left-handers, ranking third in the Junior Circuit with a 121 wRC+.