The Red Sox trailed early and had some anxious moments in the ninth, but their come-from-behind to start their three-game series in Tampa allowed Boston to maintain its lead over the Guardians, leap over the Astros and gain ground on the Yankees in an eventful night in the American League playoff races.
The Red Sox’s 11-7 win combined with the Mariners’ win over the Astros, moved Boston into a tie for the second wild card spot with Houston. Both teams are 84-70 and the Red Sox own the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Guardians, who were under .500 earlier this month improved to 13-1 in their last 14 to stay hot at the right time. They’re 1½ games behind Boston and Houston.
The Guardians play three more at Minnesota, then host Detroit and Texas for three each to close out the season. The Red Sox own the tie-breaker should they finish with the same record.
Boston also picked up a game on the wild-card-leading Yankees and are now two games behind New York.
Seattle’s win over Houston and Detroit’s loss to Atlanta made a few things interesting at the top too.
The Mariners and Tigers are both 85-69, but Seattle holds the tiebreaker.
Here’s where things stand:
Red Sox record: 84-70
Games remaining: 8
Fan Graphs: Computer simulation gives Red Sox an 86.9% chance of making the playoffs. That’s up 3.9 percent after winning.
Playoff Format
Six teams make the field. The top two division winners each get a bye in the Wild Card round. The third division winner is the No. 3 seed and plays the third wild card team. The first and second wild card teams are the No. 4 and 5 seeds and play each other. The higher seed will host all the games.
AL East Standings
| W | L | Pct | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | 89 | 65 | .578 | — |
| New York | 86 | 68 | .558 | 3 |
| Boston | 84 | 70 | .545 | 5 |
Wild Card
| W | L | Pct | WCGB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 86 | 68 | .558 | +2 |
| Boston | 84 | 70 | .545 | — |
| Houston | 84 | 70 | .545 | — |
| Cleveland | 82 | 71 | .536 | 1½ |
Tiebreakers
The Red Sox would win tiebreaker (based on head-to-head) vs: Yankees, Astros, Guardians
The Red Sox would lose tiebreaker vs.: Blue Jays
To be determined: The Red Sox are 3-3 vs. the Mariners. The next tiebreaker, after head-to-head, is intradivisional record, which is still ongoing. In the event that Detroit falls out of first place and into the Wild Card picture, the Red Sox are 0-3 vs. the Tigers with three games to go.
Magic Numbers:
3 — Any combination of Blue Jays wins and Red Sox losses makes winning the AL East impossible for the Red Sox.
7 —Any combination of Yankees wins and Red Sox losses makes home-field advantage in the best-of-three wild-card round impossible for the Red Sox.
7 — Any combination of Red Sox wins and Guardians losses will clinch a playoff berth for Boston.
Schedule
Friday’s results for AL teams in playoff contention:
Atlanta 10, Detroit 1
Baltimore 4, N.Y. Yankees 2
Kansas City 20, Toronto 1
Boston 11, Tampa Bay 7
Cleveland 6, Minnesota 2
Seattle 4, Houston 0
Saturday games for AL teams in playoff contention:
Atlanta (Wentz 5-6) at Detroit (Montero 5-3), 1:10 p.m.
Cleveland (Cecconi 6-6) at Minnesota (Ryan 13-8), 2:10 p.m., 1st game
Boston (Harrison 1-1) at Tampa Bay (Houser 8-4), 7:05 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Rodón 16-9) at Baltimore (Sugano 10-8), 7:05 p.m.
Cleveland (Allen 7-11) at Minnesota (Ober 5-8), 7:10 p.m., 2nd game
Seattle (Kirby 9-7) at Houston (Valdez 12-10), 7:10 p.m.
Toronto (Bieber 3-1) at Kansas City (Cameron 8-7), 7:10 p.m.
Red Sox Games Remaining: 10
- Sept. 20: at Tampa Bay
- Sept. 21: at Tampa Bay
- Sept. 23 at Toronto
- Sept. 24 at Toronto
- Sept. 25 at Toronto
- Sept. 26 vs. Detroit
- Sept. 27 vs. Detroit
- Sept-28 vs. Detroit
If the playoffs started today:
American League Byes
No. 1 Toronto, No. 2 Seattle
Wild Card Round
Best of 3
No. 3 Detroit vs. No. 6 Houston
No. 4 N.Y. Yankees vs. No. 5 Boston
Best of three, all games at better seed’s stadium
- Game 1: Tuesday, Sept. 30
- Game 2: Wednesday, Oct. 1
- Game 3: Thursday, Oct. 2
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