ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rays rested while the Chicago White Sox worked overtime to secure a playoff berth. No one can be sure what that will mean when their AL division series begins Thursday at Tropicana Field.

“I don’t think there’s any advantage to the way they got here,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said Wednesday. “I think they are who they are. They are a bunch of veterans. They are going to approach the day pretty much the same way. I don’t see them riding emotional waves.”

The White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 1-0 in a tiebreaker that decided the AL Central championship on Tuesday night.

“I don’t want them to be happy just to be here,” Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. “If we don’t make it to the next round, I’ll be disappointed the same way if way if we didn’t make (the playoffs) …You have to go to the World Series to get the thing done for the year.”

The teams bring contrasting styles to the best-of-5 matchup that both managers agree will be decided by pitching.

The Rays like to use their youth and speed to their advantage, especially on the artificial turf at home, and the White Sox led the majors in home runs.

“I want to play our game, the way we’ve been doing it all year, taking the same kinds of risks and providing the same kind of pressure to the other team. Period. Nothing new,” Maddon said.

Jim Thome, whose seventh-inning homer was the difference for Chicago on Tuesday night, likes the way White Sox are playing.

“Momentum is big. If you look at throughout the postseason, the wild-card teams that get in do very well because they’ve had to play good, tight games. They’ve had to play close games to get to this point,” he said.