PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays offer a simple response to critics of the team’s creative use of openers to fill out their pitching rotation.

It works.

And, they plan to do it again this season, when they expect to contend for a playoff berth after winning more games in 2018 than any major league club that didn’t make the postseason.

“At the end of the day, our motives are to win games and put our players in the best position that we believe possible to help us accomplish that. ... That will continue to be our guide,” senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager Erik Neander said.

“We’re going to do what we feel is best for our organization and our players,” Neander added. “If that leads to winning games, that makes everybody happy.”

The Rays are coming off a turnaround season in which they won 90 games, in part because of the successful use of relievers to open games on days manager Kevin Cash elected to not begin with a traditional starter.

An opener generally faced three to nine batters, depending on matchups — primarily with a goal of getting the first three to six outs of a game.

Cash also used “bullpen days” — outings started by relievers who usually worked deeper into games — when necessary after injuries and a series of salary-slashing moves left Tampa Bay without a customary five-man rotation.

“We’re going to have very similar plans as to what we did last year,” Cash said, citing depth and versatility as biggest strengths of not only a mostly young pitching staff led by 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, but of the entire roster.

“We have a lot of guys who can play different roles, that can hit in different parts of the lineup,” Cash added. “And we showed last year we’ve got a pretty special pitching staff.”