The Boston Red Sox had quite a lead in the American League Wild Card standings in late August, but it has largely dissipated as the regular season nears its end — the quest for the playoffs can never be easy.
There's a lot riding on Boston's hopeful Wild Card berth. The Red Sox have missed the playoffs in the last three seasons and five of their last six, and the team has improved too much to let their once-significant lead slip away. Alex Bregman, Garrett Crochet, Lucas Giolito and leaps from Romy Gonzalez and Brayan Bello have improved the Sox far too much for them to miss the postseason yet again.
Their fate does not rest solely in their hands, though. While the Red Sox struggle to score runs against the A's, teams around the AL are surging and sinking in the standings. Their streaks could affect the Sox's position.
Boston's biggest threat (besides its own struggling offense) seems to be the Guardians, who are ripping up the AL Central standings, encroaching on the Tigers' longstanding dominance. Cleveland has won 11 of its last 12 games — many of them have been tight games, but it's getting the job done when it counts while the Red Sox falter.
Hot streaks around the American League have the Red Sox's Wild Card standing in precarious territory
The Tigers have slumped since their incredible first half, but they gained such a huge division lead early in the year that they bought themselves some grace down the stretch. They've struggled to stay in the win column recently, though, and have a 26-28 record since the All-Star break. Detroit failed to clinch the AL Central in their September 16 and 17 games against the Guardians, but they lost both. The Blue Jays even overtook them for first place in the AL postseason standings.
Toronto has won eight of its last 12 games, but couldn't do the Red Sox the favor of winning their September 5-7 series against the Yankees. The Jays and Yankees have easier schedules remaining than the Sox do — three of the Blue Jays' four remaining series are against teams out of the race (the fourth team is the Red Sox), and the Yankees don't play another postseason team for the rest of the year.
Like the Guardians, the Astros and Rangers aren't going away quietly, although Houston just swept its in-state rival. The Mariners are on a wicked tear in the AL West — their 10-game winning streak was broken by the Royals on September 17 — but they lost first place to Houston. The Mariners and Astros begin a series on September 19, where the AL West champion could be decided. The Rangers fell to 4.5 games back of the third Wild Card, but anything can happen in the final two weeks.
The Red Sox will need to find their offensive rhythm to maintain their standing in the Wild Card around so many other streaking teams. The best possible outcome for them would be playing the Yankees in the first round since they dominated them so impressively during the season. But as New York breaks away and Boston falters, its playoff rivalry hopes may not come to fruition.