Tag: post season

Home Field Advantage

Hello and welcome to the final day of the Major League Baseball regular season. As of yesterday, there is nothing left for the Red Sox to play for. Just as the Sox vs Orioles game was starting, the A’s lost their game. That guaranteed the Red Sox home field advantage through the American League playoffs. The AL’s win at the all star game guarantees the AL pennant winners home field in the World Series. So the Sox could potentially have home field all the way through the post season. That has a nice ring to it.

Boston has 97 wins with one game left to play. After the nightmare horror of last season, I was optimistic that they could win 81 games. Let’s look at the current standings and see where an 81 win season would have placed us. How does second to last in the AL East ahead of only Toronto sound? It sounds like a huge improvement over last year, that’s what it sounds like. It also looks really depressing to finish behind the Yankees yet again. Fortunately, we’re just cruising our way to the best record in the entire American League. I cannot overstate how happy I am with this team. What a great season, and hopefully the best is yet to come.

As for the Division Series match ups, they are set for the Division winners. Oakland plays Detroit and Boston plays the wild card winner. The wild card race is still up in the air. Neither spot in the AL has been clinched yet. With one game still to be played, Cleveland (91-70) has a one game lead over Texas and Tampa Bay (both at 90-71). Tampa Bay plays Toronto today at 1:00, Cleveland plays the Twins at 2:00, and Texas plays the Angels at 3:00 (all times are Eastern). If the race ends with two teams tied for the second wild card spot, there will be a one game playoff on Monday (to decide who gets to play in the one game playoff… confusing, eh? Just wait, it gets worse) with the team that won the season series hosting. If the race ends in a three way tie it gets really strange.

The league has a formula where they designate the three teams as Teams A, B, and C. I am not sure about this, but I think the slotting is based on winning percentage against the other two teams, with the team with the best record getting to chose which slot they want. Cleveland is team A, Tampa Bay is team B, and Texas is team C. What does that mean? On Monday, Cleveland would host Tampa Bay. The winner gets the first wild card slot. On Tuesday, Texas would host the team that lost on Monday with the winner getting the second wild card slot, and the loser getting the opportunity to start Christmas shopping a little early. Then of course, the two wild card teams play each other to determine who wins the chance to lose to the Red Sox in the Division Series.

Part of me is rooting for that three way tie! Imagine having to play three one game playoffs on three consecutive days (I think, the wild card game might be Thursday, but I am pretty sure it’s going to be Wednesday), talk about stress, huh? I don’t really care who wins what, just as long as Tampa Bay doesn’t advance to the Division Series. As far as a Red Sox opponent goes, all three teams scare me, but Tampa Bay’s pitching scares me the most. I would much rather facing the Indians or the Rangers.

We’ll have to hang on and see how it all turns out over the next few days. It definitely looks to be a fun finish to the regular season in the American League, and I haven’t even looked at what’s happening in the National League yet.

Another Celebration

Did you celebrate last night? Did you party into the wee hours? Did you join in the love fest felt all across Red Sox Nation?

We Sox fans have had a lot to celebrate this month. First we clinched a post season spot. While we had our eyes on a bigger prize, we did not get too out of control for that one. Rightfully so. We clinched the American League East. That was the bigger prize. The bubbly flowed free in the Sox clubhouse that night, and many a fan let their glee free as well. Then came the most recent excuse to go crazy in celebration. It happened last night.

The New York Yankees were eliminated from post season contention.

Yeah, baby! Send those damn Yankees home! Give them their little three inch tall participation trophy and wish them a happy off season. I hope you all go on great vacations as you spend your Yankee fortunes. Don’t let the playoff door hit you on the ass on the way out!

It’s only the second time in the last 19 years that the Yankees failed to make the post season.

And it feels so very good.

Go Red Sox

The Red Sox are Playoff Bound

I missed the game last night and do I regret it or what! Lackey took a no hitter into the seventh, and then ended up winning 3-1 in a complete game that clinched a wild card spot for the Sox. We are now officially playoff bound.

The magic number for the AL East is now one game, thanks to the combination of the Red Sox winning and the Rays losing last night. Our team could be celebrating a division win tonight if they beat the Blue Jays. Either way, one Red Sox win or Rays loss and we are the AL East champs.

After last season’s schmucko the clown nightmare coming on the heels of the chicken and beer flavored collapse in 2011, none of us thought this team had a chance. I was optimistic that they might finish the season at about .500. I would have been satisfied with that.

Now? It’s World Series or bust at this point. They have become an elite team in major league baseball. They have four pitchers who can match up with almost anyone in the game. They have an offense that can hit off anyone. They have turned into one hell of a baseball team. There is no reason they cannot win it all this year. Detroit will probably still end up being the favorite to win the American League, but it’s got to be a close call. I believe these Red Sox are up to the challenge.

Just wrap up the division tonight and get on with the playoffs!

What is Almost as Good as Clinching the Division?

Want to know what makes a Red Sox fan feel almost as good as clinching the division?

Eliminating the Yankees.

The magic number for the American League East division is down to four, and the win over the Yankees last night mathematically eliminated New York from the division race. They are still in the wild card race, but losing six out of seven games to Boston over just the last 11 days has gone a long way toward putting a fork into them.

A few weeks ago I wrote a bit about which teams in the wild card race I wanted to see get into the playoffs. I have to tweak that a little now. I had said I wanted to see Oakland get in, but they have since taken over their division and built up a happy lead. As of now, the Rangers and the Rays are tied in the wild card race with Cleveland only half a game behind. Next comes Baltimore, 2.5 games out, and the Yankees are three games out. The last team with any prayer of getting in is the Royals, 3.5 games back.

I’m still rooting for the Royals to steal their way in, but it’s seeming less likely. I’d really like to see both Texas and Tampa Bay get knocked out. Obviously I want the Yankees eliminated both for Boston reasons, and for Alex Rodriguez reasons (although he left last night’s game with an injury). Baltimore is another AL East team, and if it’s possible I’d like to see the Red Sox be the only eastern team to get into the post season. That pretty much makes me a fan of Cleveland and Kansas City down the stretch.

Honestly though it doesn’t really matter to me who makes it into the playoffs, so long as they all lose to the Red Sox. That’s all I really care about.