The Boston Red Sox’s chances of making the postseason are dwindling daily. Following a tough 8-3 defeat to the Tampa Bay Rays, their path seems increasingly uncertain. First baseman Triston Casas shared his thoughts with Ian Browne of MLB.com as the regular season winds down.
“It’s coming down to the wire, but it feels like we have to win every game from here on out,” Casas said. “It’s been a challenging season, but we can still finish strong and see where that leads us.”
With a record of 75-76, the Red Sox are five games behind the Minnesota Twins for the last American League Wild Card spot. With only 11 games left in the season, they’ll need to perform nearly flawlessly to close that gap.
A glimmer of hope for the Red Sox is that their next opponent is the Twins. A crucial three-game series begins on Friday in Boston, which could significantly impact the Wild Card race.
Even if they were to sweep the Twins, the Red Sox would still have to contend with the rising Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners, both of whom are ahead of them in the standings.
In other news, Red Sox manager Alex Cora will not face suspension for comments he made about Boston potentially throwing at Yankees star Aaron Judge, as reported by Boston beat writer Chris Cotillo. When asked if the previous day’s drama would carry over, Cora said, “It was closed [Saturday] around the sixth inning. We had our chance. Didn’t happen. We have to move on.”
Cora’s comments referenced a pitch from reliever Brayan Bello that went behind Judge’s legs the day before, which did not escalate further. Judge remarked, “Things like that happen. They were just protecting their players. This game has been policed for 100 years; just don’t miss when you do it.”
Cora noted that he had a “professional” conversation with Judge after the incident. The Yankees won 5-2 on Sunday, taking three out of four games from the Red Sox and significantly damaging Boston’s playoff chances. Before heading to Seattle, Yankees manager Aaron Boone responded to Cora’s remarks, saying, “That’s not allowed. That’s for somebody else to deal with. We’re finished playing with them for now.”
