ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) — The New York Yankees finally could relax and give themselves a pat on the back.

They clinched their 13th consecutive postseason appearance with a 12-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Wednesday night, then toasted an improbable comeback from a horrid first two months of the season.

"Everybody counted us out — everybody," closer Mariano Rivera said. "But we hung in there, and here is the result."

Players sprayed champagne on each other during a wild postgame celebration that left the visiting clubhouse at Tropicana Field a big mess.

The Yankees were a season-low eight games under .500 (21-29) before play on May 30 and salvaged their play-off hopes by going a major league-best 70-38 since then. They were nine and a half games back in the wild-card race after play on July 7, but never lost their resolve.

With Alex Rodriguez leading the way with one of the great individual seasons in team history, New York methodically overcame the slow start and injuries to key players to climb back into contention.

The clinching victory eliminated defending AL champions Detroit from the wild-card race and set up a a probable first-round match-up with Cleveland, the Central champions. The Yankees are three games behind Boston with four games left, so New York's streak of nine consecutive AL East titles is likely to end.

Manager Joe Torre shed tears after the final out.

"This is what it was about. It was a lot of unselfishness. There were a lot of guys who played through some injuries, played through some fatigue. And, of course, Alex — we sort of rallied around him," Torre said.

"Probably the most important thing to me is that you can't concern yourself with other people. It's all about you. We took care of ourselves."

Players, from Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, to Rivera to Joba Chamberlain, hugged each other on the field and in the dugout before taking the party inside.

The Yankees have made the play-offs every year since 1995, and their streak of 13 consecutive trips is one shy of the record set by the Atlanta Braves from 1991-2005. They've made the postseason in all 12 seasons under Torre.

"We knew we were better than (21-29)," the manager said. "It was just a matter of us, I think, getting healthy in a lot of areas and trying to figure out what's the best way to put people in the line-up."

The Yankees have used 49 different players this year, including 28 pitchers.

The signing of Roger Clemens helped stabilise a struggling starting rotation, and the bullpen received a huge boost from Chamberlain, who has allowed one earned run in his first 17 major league appearances.

"I can't say enough about the passion of this club," Torre said.

"This has been definitely the hardest one. We scuffled there early on," said Jeter, who homered and drove in two runs in the clincher. "Everyone here knew we had a good team. We were just playing bad."

Torre is in the final year of his contract. He met with owner George Streinbrenner and other Yankees officials, including general manager Brian Cashman, over lunch on Wednesday. They discussed a variety of topics, but not Torre's future.

Players understood the manager's emotion after the game.

"He's our leader. We love Joe. We have a lot of respect for him, and we play hard for him," Rodriguez said. "A lot of people counted us out. To be where we are right now, we have a lot to be proud of."

Jorge Posada recalled a meeting the team had at Tropicana Field in July, when the Yankees reconvened after the All-Star break.

`We were able to accomplish a lot of things," Posada said. "We understood what it took — every day counted, and it was a lot of fun to see."

Steinbrenner certainly enjoyed himself during a rare ballpark appearance on Wednesday night. He kicked off the celebration when he moved to the front row of his private suite, where he could interact with fans while the Yankees were building a big lead.

Fans jammed the aisle leading to the box and some stepped over seats to get close enough to snap pictures and speak to The Boss, who lives in nearby Tampa.

"I'm elated," Steinbrenner said in a statement. "After a tough first half of the season when everyone seemed to lose faith except for our players and our fans, the team has really stepped up and shown themselves to be the champions that they are. ... I really like the mix of veterans and younger players who have contributed to this comeback. It has been exciting to watch them play, coalesce and pull together. The fans and I look forward to the team accomplishing our ultimate goal — bringing a world championship back to New York."

Cashman echoed those sentiments.

"We're Lazurus back from the dead, you know, and we're real proud of what these guys did. ... Now we, hopefully, can keep it going," the general manager said. "Our dream is still alive."