Who are the postseason contenders and pretenders?
It's not perfect. But, then again, what about this season has been?
Perfect would have been the Red Sox winning Sunday night and sweeping the Rays in Tampa. Instead, they dropped a 7-3 decision to Kevin Cash's club.
It would have been perfect if the rookie pitchers had continued to offer no-holds-barred optimism heading into the season's final two series. Nope. The understandable bumps in the road surfaced, with starter Connelly Early giving up three runs in just four innings, and Payton Tolle coming on to give up a run, two hits, and a walk in his only inning of relief, what would turn out to be the Rays' three-run eighth.
Perfection could be considered if Alex Cora knew exactly what he was dealing with when it came to these rookie hurlers, the readiness or recently-activated Wilyer Abreu (4 strikeouts), and which starters and/or relievers can be relied on to navigate the middle innings this time of year. Heading into the final six regular-season games, that is still a work in progress.
The Red Sox, however, will take the hand they have been dealt for this final week. It's not perfect, sure. But it could be a lot worse.
Here's the deal ...
- The Red Sox play three games in Toronto. Despite their champagne showers to celebrate clinching a postseason berth, the Blue Jays will still be playing for something significant with the Yankees sitting two games back of them in the race for the American League East top spot. (The Blue Jays own the tiebreaker over New York.)
- The Sox's hopes of catching the Yankees for the top wild card spot and hosting a best-of-three series seem to be fading, now residing three games back of New York. They do, however, own the tiebreaker against the Yanks. Aaron Boone's team finishes off its regular season with two home series, facing the White Sox and then the Orioles.
- The wild card standings currently have the Red Sox in the No. 2 spot, one game up on both the Astros (who are now 3 in back of AL West-leading Seattle) and Cleveland. While Houston finishes its regular season with road games in Sacramento and Anaheim, the Guardians will kick off baseball's most scrutinized series when they host Detroit for three games starting Tuesday. Cleveland is just one game back of the Tigers in the AL Central and can clinch the tiebreaker with just one win in the three-game set.
- While the Red Sox own the tiebreaker against both Houston and Cleveland, they would have to sweep the Tigers at Fenway Park to have a glimmer of hope to claim the upper hand vs. Detroit if they find themselves tied.
- While the Red Sox will be relying on the newly indoctrinated young starters in the final few days of the regular season against Detroit, the rest of their rotation is in a perceived preferred position. Lucas Giolito will start the first game of the Toronto series, while likely in line for a start in Game 1 of any wild-card series. Garrett Crochet has been moved up to Wednesday to also offer a guaranteed wild-card start.
- The Red Sox are heading to Rogers Centre feeling at least slightly better about their uneasy offense, thanks in large part to the resurgence of Alex Bregman. The third baseman went 5-for-11 with four walks. The series also saw the Red Sox claim 10 or more hits for three straight games for the first time since the end of July.
As the American author H. Jackson Brown once proclaimed, "Opportunity dances for those who are already on the dance floor." Fortunately for the Red Sox, they can at least hear the music playing.