It was an eventful night for the Red Sox in the playoff race despite not playing a game.
They picked up a half-game on the Yankees, who lost to the Twins on Monday. The Red Sox are now one game back of their traditional rivals with 12 left to play. Catching the Yankees, who are currently the No. 4 seed, could earn Boston home-field advantage in the best-of-three wild-card series.
If the current standings hold, Boston would be the No. 5 seed as the second wild card and would play the Yankees in the Bronx in the best-of-three wild card round.
The Blue Jays’ extra-inning win put Toronto five games ahead of the Yankees and six ahead of the Red Sox, as they close in on their seemingly inevitable AL East title and first-round bye.
Houston’s win over Texas means the Astros are just a half-game back of the Red Sox for the No. 5 seed. It also means Boston is 3½ games ahead of both the Rangers and Guardians, who are tied in the first spot outside of the playoffs.
Here’s where things stand:
Red Sox record: 82-68
Games remaining: 12
ESPN Analytics: ESPN’s computer simulation gives Red Sox a 93% chance of making the playoffs — Up 7% since Monday.
Playoff Format
Six teams make the field. The top two division winners each get byes 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.
Standings
AL East
| W | L | Pct | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | 88 | 62 | .587 | — |
| New York | 83 | 67 | .553 | 5 |
| Boston | 82 | 68 | .547 | 6 |
Wild Card
| W | L | Pct | WCGB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 83 | 67 | .553 | +1½ |
| Boston | 82 | 68 | .547 | +½ |
| Houston | 82 | 69 | .543 | — |
| Cleveland | 78 | 71 | .523 | 3 |
| Texas | 79 | 72 | .523 | 3 |
Tiebreakers
The Red Sox would win tiebreaker (based on head-to-head) with: Yankees, Astros
The Red Sox would lose tiebreaker with: Blue Jays
To be determined: The Red Sox are 0-3 vs. the Tigers with three games to go. They’re 3-3 vs. the Mariners, who are currently a half-game up in the AL West, but could be passed by the Astros. The next tiebreaker, after head-to-head, is intradivisional record, which is still ongoing.
Schedule
Monday’s results for AL teams in playoff contention:
Minnesota 7, N.Y. Yankees 0
Toronto 2, Tampa Bay 1, 11 innings
Houston 6, Texas 3
Tuesday games for AL teams in playoff contention:
Cleveland (Cantillo 5-3) at Detroit (Mize 14-5), 6:40 p.m.
Athletics (Springs 10-11) at Boston (Early 1-0), 6:45 p.m.
Toronto (Berríos 9-5) at Tampa Bay (Pepiot 11-10), 7:35 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Schlittler 3-3) at Minnesota (Matthews 4-5), 7:40 p.m.
Seattle (Gilbert 4-6) at Kansas City (Wacha 9-11), 7:40 p.m.
Texas (Kelly 12-7) at Houston (Javier 1-3), 8:10 p.m.
Red Sox Games Remaining: 12
Sept. 16-18: vs. Oakland
Sept 19-21: at Tampa Bay
Sept. 23-25: at Toronto
Sept. 26-28 vs. Detroit
If the playoffs started today:
American League Byes
No. 1 Toronto, No. 2 Detroit,
Wild Card Round
Best of 3 — Games are Sept. 30, Oct. 1, 2
No. 3 Seattle vs. No. 6 Houston
No. 4 N.Y. Yankees vs. No. 5 Boston
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