PHOTOS: Texas Rangers celebrate wild card win with champagne showers
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Texas Rangers swept the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday to win the AL Wild Card Series.
After the game, the Rangers broke out the champagne.
Champagne showers are typical following playoff series wins in baseball, but the Rangers were under the microscope when they started popping bottles when they clinched a trip to the playoffs.
The Rangers clinched the spot on the second to last day of the season.
They held a celebration in the locker room following the game, despite the team needing a win or Astros loss the next day to clinch the AL West.
The Rangers lost to the Marines on Sunday, sending them to the Wild Card round.
Texas Rangers beat Tampa Bay Rays in Wild Card Series
The Texas Rangers have beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card round, marking the team’s first playoff series win since 2011.
Some Houston media members quick to draw a comparison between the Rangers celebration and the Astros, who held a champagne toast after they clinched a spot on Saturday.
The Astros social media team posted a video of the team celebrating winning the division with the caption, "We celebrate titles in Houston."
Rangers GM Chris Young was not happy about the criticism of the celebration.
"We had a very subdued champagne popping, but beyond that, there was no partying there was nothing outlandish," he said in an interview on 105.3 The Fan on Monday. "These guys had earned the right to pop those champagne bottles and that was the extent of our celebration. It had no impact whatsoever on Sunday's game."
Young went on to call the criticism "pretty poor journalism."
Now the Rangers are popping bottles again.
Game 1 in Baltimore is not until Saturday, so the team can enjoy the occasion as hard as they want.