The Sox are still technically in the AL East race. They trail Tampa Bay by 2 games, with 3 games remaining. That means in order to win the division (and have homefield advantage in the first round), the Sox have to win 3 games against New York, and the Rays have to lose all three of their games in Detroit. Tampa Bay would win in the event of a tie.
This probably won't happen. The Sox will be lucky to even play a game this weekend with all the rain. But the victories were important. The Sox are playing solid baseball at precisely the right time. The 5 runs they put up on Cliff Lee was very promising for the playoffs, where they'll be facing quality pitching every night.
Winning the division is relatively meaningless in the bigger picture of things, but having homefield advantage is not. The Sox are 39-42 (.481) on the road, but 55-23 (.705) in Fenway. And even though the Sox have the 4th best record in all of baseball, they'll be on the road for the ALDS, as well as the ALCS. Unless there's a miracle this weekend.
Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Charles Krupa
