The Boston Red Sox's postseason chances got much greater on September 23 after their series opening win against the first place Toronto Blue Jays.
Boston claimed a 4-1 win over Toronto, but not without some assistance from the umpiring crew. Lucas Giolito limited the Blue Jays to three hits in his last start at the Rogers Centre, but the four walks he allowed got the Red Sox into trouble, particularly in the second frame.
The Jays loaded the bases on two walks and an error by Trevor Story on a fielder's choice. George Springer came to the plate and bounced a would-be go-ahead double up the third base line, but umpire Scott Barry called it a foul ball. Springer and Blue Jays manager John Schneider were up in arms at the call, but Springer returned to the plate to finish his at-bat.
It finished on a sour note for Toronto after the veteran was rung up on a rather egregious high and outside strike three call to get the Red Sox out of the jam. The Blue Jays had seven more innings of baseball to make up for the robbery, but couldn't capitalize.
Meanwhile, two Boston bats broke out to score its four runs. Nathaniel Lowe and Carlos Narváez were the heroes of the day — Lowe opened the scoring by plating Masataka Yoshida with a single in the second inning and scored Romy Gonzalez on another single in the sixth inning. Two batters later, Narváez drilled a two-RBI double to give the Sox their third and fourth runs on the evening.
Red Sox's magic number decreases to three after lucky calls against Blue Jays, Astros loss to A's
Clutch knock, Narvi! pic.twitter.com/yQexWkbg7n
— Red Sox (@RedSox) September 24, 2025
Lowe is batting .389/.538/.444 with seven hits, four runs and five RBI in his last seven games. Narváez was on an 0-for-17 streak when he knocked his RBI double. Yoshida is even breaking out after a late start to his season and a long adjustment period. He has a .327/.339/.404 slash line with six runs and nine RBI in his last 15 games.
Alongside the Red Sox's win, a lot changed in the American League Wild Card picture on Tuesday night. The Yankees' Jose Caballero walked off the White Sox to clinch their spot in the postseason. New York has locked in the No. 4 seed in the standings, and Boston sits in the fifth spot — if it's the next team to clinch, fans will get a Red Sox-Yankees Wild Card round to open the postseason.
The Guardians beat the Tigers, 5-2, and tied them for first place in the AL Central. Cleveland has the tiebreaker over Detroit, so it has been knocked down to the final Wild Card spot and out of first place for the first time nearly all season. The Red Sox have the tie breaker over the Guardians and not the Tigers, who will come to Boston for their final series of the season.
The Astros also lost to the A's, 5-1, on September 23. The loss knocked them a game out of the Wild Card standings and decreased the Red Sox's magic number to clinch a playoff spot down to thrree. Boston could clinch as soon as Thursday with any combination of Red Sox wins and Astros losses that equals out to three.
The Red Sox winning their first game against the Blue Jay was a massive test, and it helped raise their postseason odds to 96.1%, per FanGraphs. All they have to do is maintain their winning pace for the rest of the week, and a Wild Card spot is theirs.