True story: When the Rays muddled into a seven-game losing streak at the All-Star break, losing their grip on first place, you could almost hear the snickers from around baseball. “Aha! Told you it wasn’t going to last!’’ But in the first game back, still stuck in an offensive malaise and losing at home to the Blue Jays 1-0 in the seventh inning, Ben Zobrist blasted a two-out, two-run homer off A.J. Burnett to provide the victory and effectively stop the bleeding.

The same Ben Zobrist who this season was sent down to Triple-A Durham.

Four different times.

True story: Facing a 10-game trip to Seattle, Oakland and Texas in August — a trap door if ever there was one for Tampa Bay’s tenuous lead — the Rays placed outfielder Carl Crawford and Longoria on the disabled list.

A death knell?

Hardly.

When the Rays returned home, ho-hum, their lead had increased by another game.

True story: At Fenway Park on Sept. 9, the Red Sox were up, 4-3, and three outs away from regaining first place. Uber-closer Jonathan Papelbon was on the mound. Up stepped Rays pinch-hitter Dan Johnson.

That morning, Johnson was asleep in Pennsylvania, where his Durham Bulls were competing in the International League playoffs. The phone rang. The Rays wanted him in Boston. But a series of flight delays and travel mishaps turned his day into a nightmare. He was reluctantly scratched from the starting lineup because, well, he was in a cab, stuck in Boston traffic, as game time approached.

So in the ninth inning, Maddon played a hunch, sending Johnson to the plate, knowing he would work the count, maybe becoming a needed base runner.

What happened?

What else?

Tying homer.

The Rays immediately rallied with another run and won it, 5-4, in suddenly whisper-quiet Fenway.

True story: The Red Sox pounded the Rays 13-5 at Tropicana Field on Sept. 15, drilling four homers off Kazmir (and six overall). It was an emphatic statement. Now the charging Red Sox were within percentage points of the Rays.

More than an hour after the game, when the Tampa Bay clubhouse had emptied, a reporter sought out Maddon, seeking to gauge how he would lift up his devastated team.

Maddon, smiling, doffed his cap, revealing his work behind closed doors — a modest mohawk in his white hair, not too radical, but the sides trimmed slightly. A few days earlier in New York, on a lark between games of a doubleheader, some Rays players got mohawks.

“Just wanted to be part of the group,’’ Maddon said, winking, disappearing into the night.

And with that outlook, straight from the top, the Rays promptly beat the Red Sox two straight and again took command of the division race.

So much for devastation.

“This team, more than any other I’ve been around, can toss aside a game and move on to the next day,’’ Percival said. “That’s when you know you’ve really got something.’’

Baseball is generally played by the book. Decisions are backed up with raw numbers and trends.

Every now and again, though, you get something that defies explanation.

Every now and again, you get the Rays — with their cowbell-clanging fans finally warming up to the phenomenon, mohawks everywhere in the community and the very real notion that Tropicana Field, in all of its quirky, erector-set glory, could actually host the World Series.

Sometimes, you have to stop looking for explanations and start enjoying the ride. Sometimes, after 162 games of evidence, you’ve just got to believe.

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