As the clinch celebration played out in the Tropicana Field visitors’ clubhouse early Sunday evening, the incompleteness of the moment was not lost on the revelling Boston Red Sox.

The achievement was dampened, and not only in the literal sense by the champagne with which the Red Sox doused each other and the room. That they had lost the series to the Tampa Bay Rays barely an hour earlier and instead had their ticket punched via an Atlanta Braves victory over the Houston Astros. The Red Sox are 9-9 this month, struggling offensively, without on several injured stars, and are their first postseason round will almost certainly be a rematch of last year’s best-of-three Wild Card series at Yankee Stadium, where they fell to their rivals 2-1.

In other words, there is much work to be done. The Red Sox know it, and they are eager to prove they did not come this far to only go this far.

“This has been a turbulent season,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters. “This is certainly an accomplishment, but it’s not the primary objective here.”

But neither the recent struggles nor the battles ahead should diminish the magnitude of the overall achievement of getting to this point.

The Red Sox lost American League Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet to a shoulder injury in mid-April, and he has yet to return.

They fired manager Alex Cora and several coaches in the middle of a late-April road series in Baltimore, and promoted Triple-A Worcester skipper Chad Tracy and several others from their minor league coaching ranks.

Injuries sidelined star outfielder Roman Anthony and veteran shortstop Trevor Story from early May until the very end of August.

The Red Sox owned their worst home record to start a season since 1932, and were 15 1/2 games out of first in the American League East in June.

On June 24, they fell to 14 games under .500. On Sunday, they became the fourth team in Major League Baseball history to go from as many as 14 games under .500 to the postseason in the same season.

“We needed time, and the time came for us,” veteran first baseman Willson Contreras told his teammates in the clubhouse. “I’m very proud of you all.”

“It’s 162 for a reason,” echoed third baseman Caleb Durbin.

“Obviously, getting where we want to go, but ultimately, what we had to overcome to get here makes it all the more sweet,” Tracy said. “We had a long way to go, and they never stopped, and they didn’t take no for an answer.”

This year looked lost, and the Red Sox managed to save it. They maintained an unshakeable belief in themselves, and it has already taken them to places most of the baseball world doubted it could go.

“Belief, belief, belief,” Contreras told reporters. “That was my main word, and that’s what I did from Day 1.”

The Red Sox are not a perfect team. But they certainly have the grit and gumption to go further than expected, as evidenced by the fact that they have already done so by reaching this point.

“We know how it felt when we left New York at the end of the year,” Story said. “You know how it made me feel. So that stayed with me.”

“They came together, and they found a way to get it done, and they had a long way to go to do it,” Tracy said. “They’re very battle-tested, and I’m super, super proud of them.”

“We don’t care where we play,” Tracy said. “You go back to July, and most people didn’t think we’d even be standing here. So it doesn’t matter where we play.”

“We’re in,” Tracy continued. “You got a ticket to the dance, and now you got to go take care of it there.”

“We’re in, baby,” Story said. “Let’s go.”

“Now, this is the moment,” right-fielder Wilyer Abreu said, “that we (were) waiting for.”

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