NEW YORK, NY – With last night’s win against the Blue Jays in T’ronna, the Yankees are in the drivers seat in the hunt for the AL Wild Card. The Bombers have a two game lead over the Red Sox and Angry Ward’s Mariners, who have identical records and are tied for the second Wild Card spot. The Jays are now on the outside looking in, a game behind the Sox and Mariners.
With everyone having three games to play, it’s shaping up to be a wild weekend. The Yankees control their own destiny. Their magic number is 2 but they have a tough opponent in the Tompa Brady Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays don’t have much to play for having clinched the best record in the American League. But they’ve had the Yanks’ number and will be looking to play spoiler. If the Yanks win two of the three games this weekend, they clinch the top Wild Card spot. One win for the Yanks coupled with a loss by either the Red Sox or Mariners will see the Pinstripers clinch as well.
Seattle finishes their regular season at home against the Angels, who will no doubt be planning tee times throughout the weekend. The M’s have had a stellar September to get back into the AL Wild Card hunt. They went 18-8 for the month and won nine of their last 10. A big weekend coupled with some help in Washington could see the Mariners through to the Wild Card game.
The Red Sox are coming into their last three games having just lost two of three to the Baltimore Orioles who have only won 52 games all season. The Sox finish in Washington against a Nats team that will be planning their own golf outings. Boston will be playing National League rules in Washington, which could pose problems for them in their bid to secure a Wild Card berth. The Sox alternated between winning streaks and losing streaks in September and slipped down the Wild Card standings. They’re coming into this weekend needing to bury the Nationals and hope the Mariners lose to secure a Wild Card slot.
The Blue Jays need even more help. They will need to beat the Orioles and hope that both the Mariners and Red Sox slip up this weekend. Anything is possible and there is still the possibility that there is a two-way or even three-way tie for the second Wild Card slot. In the event of a tie between the Sox and Mariners, the M’s would travel to Boston for a 1-game play-in game against the Red Sox on Monday. The winner of that game would travel to the Bronx to play the Wild Card game against the Yankees on Tuesday.
If there is a 3-team tie for the second Wild Card spot, Toronto would travel to Seattle for a play-in play-in game. The winner of that game would travel to Boston to meet the Sox in the play-in game and then the winner of that game would meet the Yankees in the Wild Card game. That is, of course, if the Yankees can take care of business this weekend against the Rays.
