For the first time in seven years, the Red Sox find themselves occupying a playoff spot with just 15 games remaining (by this point in 2021, they actually fell out of a playoff spot and had to rally back in). Of these final 15 games, nine are at home, but nine are also against other AL teams currently occupying playoff spots, so there’s still plenty to iron out.
With the Red Sox off today and the Yankees playing the Tigers this evening, the Red Sox will enter the upcoming series against New York on
Friday night at Fenway either a half game ahead or a half game behind. Once it gets underway, this series could help determine the location of a possible matchup between the Red Sox and Yankees in a best-of-three Wild Card Series in three weeks. (Remember, all games in the Wild Card series stay at the same location.)
If you’re still looking for the division, Toronto did lose last night to the Astros 3-2. However, any path there is more difficult as the Sox remain four back in the loss column and the Blue Jays have already locked up the tiebreaker. While not mathematically true, any scenario where the Sox win the division probably needs to involve them sweeping Toronto when they go in there from September 23rd through September 25th as they have to make up five games. (Even taking two out of three there would only make up one game game, so they’d have to find a way to make up four games in the other twelve.)
If you’re looking down, the Sox remain four games clear of the Texas Rangers who are the first team on the outside looking in.
Talk about the playoff picture and whatever else you want in this thread, and as always, be good to one another!
