Baseball

The Red Sox return to the playoffs for the first time since 2021
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
The Red Sox return to the playoffs for the first time since 2021
Credit: BG

This is it.

For the first time since the 2021 season and only the second time since the 2018 World Series, the Boston Red Sox are finally back in the playoffs.

Yesterday, the Red Sox had to either win or make sure the Astros lost to qualify for the playoffs. They didn't wait to see what Houston would do, though: they just won against Detroit, at home.

Ceddanne Rafaela hit a game-winning home run to qualify his club. Must be a crazy feeling.

This means that now, four teams are officially qualified in the American: the Blue Jays, the Yankees, the Red Sox and the Mariners. We're talking about three clubs from the East… and none from the Central.

Here are the standings, as of this morning.

MLB

The Mariners lost, which means they're guaranteed a worse record than the Blue Jays and Yankees. So no matter who wins the East, Seattle is sure to finish second in the American League.

It's set in stone: in a week's time, they'll face the winner of the wild card series between positions 3 and 6.

The Blue Jays and Yankees both won yesterday. The tie still stands, with two games to play, between the division rivals. The Blue Jays have the tiebreaker, meaning the Yankees must win one more game than the Blue Jays to finish atop the division.

If the Blue Jays (Rays) win today and the Yankees (Orioles) lose, the division title will belong to the Blue Jays.

The club that loses the East Division is guaranteed to finish fourth and face either the Tigers or Red Sox in the Wild Card Series. Odds are good it'll be the Red Sox… and the winner will face the East Division champion in the division series. That would be a good show.

For the Red Sox to finish sixth instead of fifth, the Guardians and Tigers (who face the Red Sox this weekend) must win their next two games. That way, Detroit would catch Boston in the standings, but without winning the division.

Because no, the division title in the Central is not up for grabs. In fact, Cleveland and Detroit haven't even qualified yet.

The Guardians could win the division title today by beating Texas and seeing the Tigers escape Boston, but nothing is official. The Cleveland club has the edge in the tie-breaker.

What about the Astros? By losing yesterday to the… Angels, they shot themselves in the foot. They have to finish the season 2-0 and hope that a club like Cleveland or Detroit finishes 0-2 in order to sneak into the playoffs as the sixth team.

Their long streak of eight consecutive years of qualifying is more in jeopardy than ever. A single loss (or a win for the Guardians and Tigers) would eliminate them. But who's going to cry for them?

PMLB
  • 476th save for Kenley Jansen.

  • Two circuits for Mike Trout yesterday.

  • Aaron Judge is the MVP, according to his manager.

  • 30th stolen goal for Josh Naylor this season.

  • Javier Baez has to stand up.

This content was created with the help of AI.

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