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Red Sox playoff picture: Wednesday’s win has Boston on brink of postseason berth
The Red Sox just need a win over the Blue Jays — or an Astros loss — on Thursday to clinch a playoff spot.
The Red Sox are on the cusp of playing October baseball for the first time since 2021.
Boston secured another win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday, with eight shutout innings for Garrett Crochet pacing Boston en route to a 7-1 victory at Rogers Centre.
As a result of Boston’s win — the fourth in the team’s last five games — the Red Sox could clinch a playoff berth as soon as Thursday afternoon, depending on how both Alex Cora’s team and the Houston Astros fare in their respective series.
Boston’s magic number to clinch a postseason berth is now just one — with either a Red Sox win against Toronto or an Astros loss to the A’s on Thursday securing a playoff spot for Boston.
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Boston lowered its magic number to two with Wednesday’s win in Toronto, while Houston’s loss to the Athletics later that night bringing that magic number down to one.
The Red Sox could conceivably punch their ticket to the playoffs before they even play on Thursday night, given that Houston will play at 3:35 p.m. (EST) in the final game of its series with the A’s.
With the Red Sox defeating Toronto on Wednesday, Boston (87-71) continues to hold steady in second place in the American League Wild Card standings — two games ahead of the third-place Tigers (85-73) and now three games ahead of the Astros (84-74), who currently are on the outside looking in at the playoff picture.
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All things considered, the Red Sox have a four-game cushion over the Astros with just four games left in the season, considering that Boston holds the tiebreaker over Houston.
While the Red Sox are holding court with that second Wild Card spot, Toronto’s recent losing skid has them at risk of losing their spot atop the AL East. The Blue Jays are now tied with the Yankees with a record of 90-68 — with Toronto only ahead of New York in the standings by holding the tiebreaker in that head-to-head matchup.
Here’s a look at the latest standings across MLB:
If MLB’s regular season ended today, this would be the matchups in the American League:
Byes
No. 1 Toronto, No. 2 Seattle
Wild Card Round
Best of 3
No. 3 Cleveland vs. No. 6 Detroit
No. 4 Yankees vs. No. 5 Boston
As far as the playoff format, six teams will make the postseason in both the American and National League.
The two division winners with the best records in each league will earn a bye in the Wild Card round, while the third division winner holds onto the No. 3 seed and plays the third wild-card team. The first and second wild-card teams will be the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively, and play each other.
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The higher seed will host all three games in the Wild Card round, which means that Boston would — as of now — be trying to keep their season alive with a three-game series at Yankee Stadium next week.
But given that the Yankees and Blue Jays are now tied in the standings, there stands a chance that Boston could return to Rogers Centre next week if New York takes first in the AL East and Toronto ends up falling into the Wild Card.
Even if Boston goes on to clinch a playoff berth on Thursday, it may not be until Sunday that the Red Sox find out who they’ll face in the Wild Card round — given how close so many AL teams are in the standings.
Regardless of how Houston fares tomorrow against the A’s, Boston will try to clinch a playoff spot on Thursday when they go for a sweep against Toronto. Brayan Bello will get the ball for Boston, with first pitch set for 7:07 p.m.
Here’s a look at Wednesday’s results for the top teams in the AL:
Red Sox defeated Blue Jays, 7-1
Guardians defeated Tigers, 5-1
Yankees defeated White Sox, 8-1
Mariners defeated Rockies, 9-2
A’s defeated Astros, 6-0
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