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| Date | October 2, 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | RingCentral Coliseum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Oakland, California | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Umpires | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 54,005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ceremonial first pitch | MC Hammer[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Television | ESPN ESPN2 (Statcast Edition) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TV announcers | Matt Vasgersian,Jessica Mendoza,Alex Rodriguez, andBuster Olney (ESPN) Jason Benetti,Eduardo Pérez, and Mike Petriello (ESPN2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio | ESPN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | Dan Shulman andChris Singleton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The2019 American League Wild Card Game was a playoff game duringMajor League Baseball's (MLB)2019 postseason contested between theAmerican League's twowild card teams, theOakland Athletics andTampa Bay Rays.[2] It was played on October 2,[3] with Tampa Bay advancing to theAmerican League Division Series to face theHouston Astros.
The game was televised nationally byESPN.[3] An alternate telecast, featuringStatcast analytics and sponsored byAmazon Web Services, aired onESPN2.[4] The game set the record for the highest attendance at a wild card game with an attendance of 54,005.[5]Tyler Glasnow of the visiting Rays later said that the raucous Oakland Coliseum was the loudest environment he had ever been in.[6]
Oakland entered the game with a 97–65 record, while Tampa Bay was 96–66. They met seven times during the regular season, with Oakland winning the season series 4–3.
TheOakland Athletics secured their third postseason appearance as a wild card team on September 27, finishing second in theAmerican League West, behind theHouston Astros.[7][8] Oakland secured home field advantage on September 28.[9][10] They previously appeared in the2014 and2018 Wild Card Games, losing both.
TheTampa Bay Rays also secured their third postseason appearance as a wild card team on September 27, finishing second in theAmerican League East, behind theNew York Yankees.[11][8] They previously appeared in one Wild Card Game, a win in2013.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Tampa Bay | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Oakland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:Charlie Morton (1–0) LP:Sean Manaea (0–1) Home runs: TB:Yandy Díaz 2 (2),Avisaíl García (1),Tommy Pham (1) OAK: None Attendance: 54,005 Boxscore | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Rays took an early lead in the first inning courtesy of a leadoff home run byYandy Díaz off Oakland starterSean Manaea. Manaea gave up a single toMatt Duffy to begin the second inning, andAvisaíl García promptly homered to extend Tampa Bay's lead to 3–0. When Manaea gave up another home run to Díaz in the third inning, he was lifted in favor ofYusmeiro Petit. The Athletics scored their lone run of the game in the bottom of the third, when a throwing error byMike Brosseau allowedMarcus Semien to reach third base andRamón Laureano drove him in with a sacrifice fly. However,Tommy Pham's fifth inning home run off Petit again gave the Rays a four-run lead.Charlie Morton was relieved after the bottom of the fifth byDiego Castillo,Nick Anderson, andEmilio Pagán, who combined for four scoreless innings to seal the victory for Tampa Bay. For Oakland, it was their 30th straight year without a title. It was the ninth time from 2000 to 2019 that the Athletics competed in a winner-take-all postseason game, for which they lost all nine. This would be the final MLB playoff game in Oakland with fans in attendance as the Athletics would relocate after the 2024 season (while the Athletics did qualify for the 2020 postseason, all games that season were played without fans due to theCOVID-19 pandemic).