Red Sox, Yankees earn wild cards
Rafael Devers delivered big time for the Boston Red Sox. Aaron Judge did just enough for the New York Yankees. And Buster Posey boosted the San Francisco Giants to the NL West crown, dropping the 106-win Dodgers into a dangerous wild-card game.
In a flash, the Major League Baseball playoff field was all settled Sunday.
No crazy tiebreaker scenarios. No chaos on the final day. And for fans who wanted drama — no problem, that’s on deck.
Yankees-Red Sox to start the postseason in an all-ornothing October duel at Fenway Park. Sound familiar?
“We’ll be ready,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “It should be fun.”
Boston and New York both scored the winning run in the ninth inning in Game 162 to seal their spots in the AL wild-card matchup Tuesday night, when it’ll be Yankees ace Gerrit Cole against Nathan Eovaldi.
So between now and then, count on seeing endless replays of Bucky Dent’s home run over the Green Monster that lifted the Yankees over Boston in their famed 1978 one-game meeting for the AL East title.
Shut out of this year’s postseason party were Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his Toronto Blue Jays, along with the Seattle Mariners; they each needed a loss by either the Red Sox or Yankees to have a chance.
“Unfortunately, our fate was in the hands of another team,” said George Springer, who homered twice in Toronto’s win over Baltimore. “We were hoping for something, but obviously it didn’t happen.”
The Giants clinched the NL West with their franchiserecord 107th win, routing San Diego 11-4 behind Posey’s three RBIs. They needed all of those victories to hold off the World Series champion Dodgers.
“You’re going to be hard pressed to see another race like this for quite a while,” said Posey, the three-time champion catcher who sat out last season because of COVID-19 concerns.
The Dodgers dropped into the NL wild-card game Wednesday night, when they’ll host the hard-charging St. Louis Cardinals. Pretty neat tilt, too: Max Scherzer vs. Adam Wainwright.
On Friday, the NL Division Series start up with Charlie Morton and the Atlanta Braves visiting Corbin Burnes and the pitching-rich Milwaukee Brewers.
Posey and the Giants will play the wild-card winner at Oracle Park.
Also, the Tampa Bay Rays will welcome the AL wildcard winner in a division series starting Thursday.