Getty Tampa Bay Rays starter Blake Snell.
The top-seeded Tampa Bay Rays will host the eighth-seeded Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday for Game 1 of their best-of-three American League wild-card series.
In the US, all three games will be televised on TBS. But if you don’t have cable, here’s how to watch a live stream of the Blue Jays vs Rays online for free:
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Sling TV
You can watch a live stream of TBS and 30-plus other TV channels via Sling TV’s “Sling Orange” or “Sling Blue” bundle. It comes with a free three-day trial, but if you bypass that, you can get $10 off your first month, and get Showtime, Starz, and Epix included for free:
Once signed up for Sling TV, you can watch the Blue Jays vs Rays live on the Sling TV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, Android TV, airTV Mini, Oculus, Portal, iPhone, Android phone, iPad, or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Sling TV website.
You can also watch the games live via ESPN.com or the ESPN app. You’ll need to sign in to a TV provider to watch this way, but you can use your Sling credentials to do that.
If you can’t watch live, Sling TV comes included with 10 hours of cloud DVR.
Hulu With Live TV
You can watch a live stream of TBS and 65+ other TV channels via Hulu With Live TV, which you can try out for free with a seven-day trial:
Once signed up for Hulu With Live TV, you can watch the Blue Jays vs Rays live on the Hulu app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Hulu website.
You can also watch the games live via ESPN.com or the ESPN app. You’ll need to sign in to a TV provider to watch this way, but you can use your Hulu credentials to do that.
If you can’t watch live, Hulu with Live TV also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
YouTube TV
You can watch TBS and 80-plus other TV channels on YouTube TV:
Once signed up for YouTube TV, you can watch the Blue Jays vs Rays live on the YouTube app, which is available on your your Roku, Roku TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. You can also watch on your computer via TV.YouTube.com.
If you can’t watch live, it comes with included DVR.
Blue Jays vs Rays Preview
Tampa Bay won nine of their last 11 to finish the year 40-20, the best record in the AL. Though they didn’t need it to lock up home-field advantage throughout the junior circuit’s half of the bracket, the Rays closed their year by besting the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0 behind six shutout inning from lefty Josh Fleming.
“I think we’re playing well,” Rays infielder Mike Brosseau said, according to the team’s official website. “It’s a new season. In a three-game series like this first round, crazy things can happen, so we have to make sure we’re on our ‘A’ game.”
Tampa Bay boasts one of baseball’s best pitching staffs; the team’s 3.56 ERA ranked second in the AL this season.
Rays ace Blake Snell, the 2018 AL Cy Young winner, will take the ball on Sunday. The 27-year-old southpaw posted a 3.24 ERA and a 4-2 record across 11 starts in 2020.
He’ll go up against a Blue Jays lineup that scored the third-most runs in the AL. Toronto’s Teoscar Hernandez, a 27-year-old outfielder, broke out this season to the tune of a .289 average, a .919 OPS, 34 RBI, and a team-high 16 home runs.
“If you’re in [the postseason] right now, every team is going to present its challenges,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said, per the team’s site. “We have a fairly good idea of that team, as they do with us. I can bet they’re going to be very well prepared knowing [Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo], and certainly Ross Atkins, their general manager. Impressive group, young group, energetic group, and we’ll have our hands full.”
Montoyo worked in the Rays organization from 1997 until the Blue Jays hired him as their manager in October 2018.
Tampa Bay’s posted seven 90-win seasons since their inaugural season in 1998; they were on pace to win 108 in 2020. The Blue Jays have reached 90 wins just once since their triumph in the 1993 World Series
“Our team knows, for us to start winning championships, we’ve got to go through Tampa Bay,” Montoyo said after his side’s regular season finale, according to The Associated Press.
The Blue Jays were 26-26 before they closed their campaign on a 6-2 run, which included a 7-5 defeat to the Baltimore Orioles on the last day of the season. They’ll trot out 34-year-old starter Matt Shoemaker, who went 0-1 in six starts with a 4.71 ERA.
“Our confidence right now is great,” Blue Jays outfielder Lourdes Gurriel said via a translator, per AP. “We have pretty much everybody healthy. From one through nine, the lineup is good. Everybody is feeling great right now, which is what you want going into the playoffs.”
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