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The American League playoff race took 162 games to settle, but it won’t take more. The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees finally landed their postseason tickets in Sunday’s season finals, shutting the door on the expanding Toronto Blue Jays.
Aaron Judge secured the Yankees’ spot with an infield single to break a scoreless tie against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Boston Red Sox then got a massive 2-point homerun from Rafael Devers to make a comeback and defeat the Washington Nationals.
After a weekend of wrestling, the two rivals found themselves in a high-stakes encounter in Tuesday’s AL wildcard match and avoided the tie-breaker matches that would have been necessary if either or both had. lost. The Blue Jays, who started a game back on Sunday, put the pressure on with a Baltimore Orioles choke, but ultimately fell short of their division rivals.
Yankees and Red Sox prevent playoff chaos
The AL wild card race entered on the verge of chaos on Sunday. The Yankees and Red Sox were tied but in the knockout position. The Blue Jays and Mariners were one game away. Any combination of wins from Toronto or Seattle and losses from New York or Boston would have created a tiebreaker fireworks display.
The Blue Jays were the quickest to deal with business. George Springer blew up a starting homerun and later a grand slam as they pulled off with the Orioles. Seattle, meanwhile, has fallen behind just as quickly in its pipe-dreaming quest for the playoffs. Shohei Ohtani closed his likely MVP-winning season with a debut homerun and the Angels crammed into an early lead they wouldn’t give up.
After failing to capitalize on a streak with the Orioles, the Red Sox had a botched game in Washington – Chris Sale came into the Nationals’ second inning with the bases loaded and the offense collapsed against the Nationals starter Joan Adon in his big league debut – but eventually rallied around Devers. Manager Alex Cora looked to starters Eduardo Rodriguez and Nick Pivetta to kick off the final footage.
The Yankees dueled with the Rays using a parade of pitchers. The main (only?) Highlight was a daring grab from Gio Urshela before Judge finally broke the tie with his infield kick.
An image of the playoffs that threatened to remain volatile beyond the 162-game mark, and possibly requiring an MLB tie-breaking system never before deployed, instead clarified on the final day of the season. with the powers of AL East.
The Red Sox and Yankees will now face off at Fenway Park on Tuesday night for the right to face the top-ranked Rays in the ALDS.
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