Red Sox 4, Blue Jays 1

 

What a day! The Sox opened their crucial three-game road series in Toronto last night with a win, beating the division leader, 4-1. Narváez hit a two-run double and Lowe hit two RBI singles. Giolito allowed only one run on three hits in 4⅔ innings, and after that the bullpen was nearly perfect, allowing only one walk, no runs, and no hits over the remaining 4⅓.

Fun fact: it can be argued that the AL East is the toughest division in MLB because it's the only one with three teams that have season records over .545.  

Meanwhile, those pesky A's beat Houston, 5-1, in Oakland last night, and the combination of a Red Sox win and a Houston loss drops the Red Sox magic number for making the playoffs down to three. 

There are five games left to the season, and any combination of three Boston wins and Houston losses guarantees us a playoff spot. In fact, due to Boston's 4-2 season record against the Astros, we'd make the playoffs even if we don't achieve that magic number and the season ends with the two teams in a dead tie.    

But to make things even more interesting, Cleveland beat Detroit, 5-2, last night, and the combination of the Guardians' winning streak (9-1 in the last 10 games) and the Tigers' losing streak (seven consecutive losses) puts Cleveland in the lead in the AL Central and drops Detroit down to the third Wild Card spot, one game back from Boston. 

The Sox are 0-3 against the Tigers so far this year, so if the season ends with the two teams tied, Detroit would win the tie-breaker. However, Boston's last three games of the season are against the Tigers, so we'd have a chance to either eliminate them from the playoffs or tie up the season series. In the latter case, the tiebreaker then becomes the teams' intradivision record, then intraleague record, and then the ratio of vowels-to-consonants in the team owner's full name, and then a coin toss in the dead of night under a full moon over the entrails of a cat. 

Let's hope it doesn't come to that. A sweep of Toronto would solve everything and fortunately for us, it's Crochet Day. The might Garrett (17-5, 2.69) takes the mound tonight against the Jays' Max Scherzer (5-4, 5.06).

Let's go, Red Sox! Three more dubs, that's all I'm asking! Win, baby, win!