162 games came down to the wire Sunday as the Mariners, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Yankees were all vying for AL wildcard spots this afternoon. The MLB head office was on high alert as there was a possibility that there could be a 4 way tie for the 2 wildcard slots. In the end though, no advanced mathematics degrees would be needed to sort out the tie breakers.
Seattle took themselves out of the race early on, falling behind 4-0 to the Angels through 2 innings of play, putting an end to their Cinderella bid to punch their ticket to the postseason. The Mariners would go on to lose 7-3 with starting pitcher Tyler Anderson (7-11) giving up 5 hits, and 4 runs (3 earned) in the defeat.
The Blue Jays won in a laugher 12-4 over the Orioles, powered by George Springer’s 5 RBI day. They were then forced to scoreboard watch as one of either the Yankees or Red Sox would need to falter for them to have any hope of reaching the playoffs.
The Rays and Yankees game came down to the wire. Still tied 0-0 heading into the bottom of the 9th inning, Aaron Judge hit a one out single to score the only run New York would need to lock up a Wild Card spot. The only question remaining was whether it would be against Toronto or Boston.
On paper, it should’ve been a simple task, dispatch the lowly 65 win Nationals, who appeared to have mailed in the final series of the year and Boston would be in the postseason. Yet it would be Washington who found themselves up 5-1 after 5 innings and seemingly in the driver’s seat. Making matters worse, Red Sox slugger JD Martinez turned an ankle, forcing him to be removed from the game. Instead it was one of Boston’s youngest players, Rafael Devers who would go 4 / 5 with 3 runs, 4RBIs and 2 HRs to rally the Red Sox back to a 7-5 victory.
The win sets up a Boston vs. New York one game playoff for the right to face Tampa Bay in the ALDS. Here’s how this year’s MLB postseason looks:
Yankees @ Red Sox (AL Wild Card)
Winner BOS/NYY vs. Tampa Bay (ALDS)
White Sox @ Astros (ALDS)
Cardinals @ Dodgers (NL Wild Card)
Winner STL/LAD vs. San Francisco (NLDS)
Braves vs. Brewers (NLDS)
The postseason kicks off Tuesday at Fenway Park.