After the Red Sox missed opportunities to expand their lead early and then couldn’t hold it later, they found themselves slipping in the playoff picture.
The Red Sox loss, combined with wins for the Yankees, Astros and Guardians, made for a bad night for Boston.
The Red Sox fell from the No. 5 spot to the No. 6 spot in the playoff picture as the Astros, leapfrogged them into the No. 5 spot. Boston would now have to fly to Seattle for the best-of-three wild-card series if the current standings hold.
Houston beat Texas and is now a half-game ahead of the Red Sox. Cleveland’s win over Detroit moved the Guardians within 2½ games of Boston as they try to wrest the final playoff spot away from them.
Notably, the Astros are just a half-game back of the Mariners and could take over the West lead and the No. 3 seed.
The Blue Jays are now seven games ahead of the Red Sox, making the East title all but impossible with 11 games left.
Here’s where things stand:
Red Sox record: 82-69
Games remaining: 11
ESPN Analytics: ESPN’s computer simulation gives Red Sox a 91% chance of making the playoffs — Down 2% 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 | 89 | 62 | .589 | — |
| New York | 84 | 67 | .556 | 5 |
| Boston | 82 | 69 | .543 | 7 |
Wild Card
| W | L | Pct | WCGB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 84 | 67 | .556 | +2 |
| Houston | 83 | 69 | .546 | +½ |
| Boston | 82 | 69 | .543 | — |
| Cleveland | 79 | 71 | .527 | 2½ |
| Texas | 79 | 73 | .520 | 3½ |
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
Tuesday’s results for AL teams in playoff contention:
Athletics 2, Boston 1
Cleveland 7, Detroit 5, 10 innings
Toronto 6, Tampa Bay 5
Seattle 12, Kansas City 5
N.Y. Yankees 10, Minnesota 9
Houston 6, Texas 5
Wednesday games for AL teams in playoff contention:
Cleveland (Williams 10-5) at Detroit (Flaherty 8-13), 6:40 p.m.
Athletics (Barnett 1-1) at Boston (Giolito 10-4), 6:45 p.m.
Toronto (Gausman 10-10) at Tampa Bay (Seymour 3-2), 7:05 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Gil 4-1) at Minnesota (Bradley 6-7), 7:40 p.m.
Seattle (Miller 4-5) at Kansas City (Ragans 2-3), 7:40 p.m.
Texas (deGrom 12-7) at Houston (Javier 1-3), 8:10 p.m.
Red Sox Games Remaining: 11
Sept. 17-18: 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 Boston
No. 4 N.Y. Yankees vs. No. 5 Houston
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