The Red Sox put it all on the line Saturday night, as was evident by Alex Cora's expression of exhaustion after his team's 5-3 win over the Nationals.
"I’m grinding. I love this," Cora said after weathering the twists and turns of Game 161. "This is what I’m here for. I enjoy it and every pitch means a lot. It means everything to me. I love the fact that after games, I’m exhausted because I do care about this team, I do care about this organization, I do care about my players."
The result was that the Red Sox have put themselves in a solid position heading into Sunday.
With Chris Sale on the mound, the Sox can clinch a home Wild Card game if they win Game 162 against the Nationals, regardless of the outcomes involving the Yankees, Blue Jays and Mariners (who won late Saturday night to keep things extra spicy).
But what if they lose?
Let's start with the four-way tie scenario, which would have meant not only did the Red Sox come up short Sunday, but the Yankees were swept by the Rays and both the Jays and Mariners won. In this situation, MLB will change each franchise's name to 'A, B, C, and D'.
Because of their superior winning percentage against the remaining teams, the Red Sox would get to choose to host a Game 163, with the Blue Jays designated as 'Team B' allowing to also play at home. The Yankees would then get to choose if they wanted to play the Red Sox or Blue Jays, with Seattle getting whatever team New York doesn't pick.
The winners of the two games would then play each other in a Wild Card Game, with the Red Sox playing at home if they advance.
Now, for the three-way tie scenarios ...
The Red Sox would once again get to live life as Team A if they choose, getting the opportunity to either host a game against Team B, with the winner advancing to the Wild Card game. The loser of that game would play Team C to determine the other participant in the Wild Card meeting.
The Sox would also have the option of using their designation to get an extra day of rest by becoming Team C, putting all their eggs in the basket of one game against the loser of Team A vs. Team B.
If the Yankees win Sunday and the Red Sox fall into a three-way deadlock for the second Wild Card, the Sox would get the opportunity to either host the two games needed to advance, or play the winner of Team A vs. Team B on the road for a winner-take-all with a day of rest.
The simplest way to look at it? The Red Sox would be best off winning the last game of the scheduled 2021 season.