The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will meet in the American League Wild Card Game. The AL East rivals both collected dramatic wins on Sunday, the final day of baseball's regular season, to punch their playoff tickets and fend off the possibility of a three- or four-way wild-card tie with the Blue Jays and/or Mariners. Toronto and Seattle were eliminated Sunday despite 90-win seasons.
For more on the final day of the American League wild race, let's get down and dirty with some subhead action.
Yankees walk-off Rays to clinch spot
The Yankees clinched their AL Wild Card Game spot with a thrilling 1-0 win over the Rays at Yankee Stadium. Aaron Judge's ground ball single provided the walk-off win after the two teams traded zeroes for eight innings. Jameson Taillon drew the start for the Yankees even though he exited his last start with an reaggravation of his recent ankle injury. He gave the team 3 1/3 scoreless innings before giving way to a parade of relievers. Most notably, Jonathan Loaisiga stranded a runner at third with one out in the eighth. The Yankees join the Astros and Dodgers as the only teams to go to the postseason each of the last five seasons.
Red Sox rally to punch ticket
As with the Yankees, all the Red Sox needed on Sunday to take a spot in the Wild Card Game was win. Though Boston was playing the lowly Nationals, the result was very much in doubt until the late stages.
Indeed, the Red Sox were trailing by a 5-1 margin entering the sixth inning. They cut the deficit to 5-2 heading into the seventh, and by the time fans took their stretch the game was tied. Rafael Devers plated a run with a single and set up an Alex Verdugo double that evened the game at 5-5. It was Devers who later broke the tie, hitting a two-run shot in the ninth inning to give the Red Sox an insurmountable 7-5 lead.
The Red Sox are expected to start Nathan Eovaldi in the Wild Card Game. In 32 starts this season, he compiled a 3.75 ERA (126 ERA+) and a 5.57 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Blue Jays blow out Orioles, but fall game short
Unlike the Red Sox, the Blue Jays left little doubt about who was winning their season finale. Toronto launched four home runs and notched 12 hits against the Orioles en route to a 12-4 victory. Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, it wasn't enough.
Toronto entered Sunday needing some help in order to force a Game 163. Namely, the Blue Jays needed at least one of the Yankees or Red Sox to lose. That didn't happen, and, as such, the Blue Jays will begin their offseason in earnest on Monday.
Mariners lose as playoff drought continues
The Blue Jays weren't the only team who needed help to play another day. The Mariners faced similar circumstances: a win alone wouldn't do them any good, but they had to win and have the Yankees or Red Sox lose to force a tiebreaker.
As it turns out, it wouldn't have mattered for Seattle even if the Yankees or Red Sox had done their part. That's because the Mariners dropped their season finale against the Angels by a 7-3 final. Shohei Ohtani homered to put the Angels up early and Jared Walsh added three runs batted in of his own.
The Mariners' playoff drought is now at 20 years and counting. It remains the longest active streak in the four major American men's sports leagues.
AL wild-card standings
1. Red Sox: 92-70
2. Yankees: 92-70
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3. Blue Jays: 91-71 (1 GB)
4. Mariners: 90-72 (2 GB)
Key games, scores
All 15 games around the league started at 3:05 p.m. ET on Sunday. Six games had playoff implications. Here are the final scores:
- FINAL: Red Sox 7, Nationals 5 (Box score)
- FINAL: Yankees 1, Rays 0 (Box score)
- FINAL: Blue Jays 12, Orioles 4 (Box score)
- FINAL: Angels 7, Mariners 3 (Box score)
- FINAL: Giants 11, Padres 4 (Box score)
- FINAL: Dodgers 10, Brewers 3 (Box score)
Follow along below for live updates, scores, highlights and analysis from Sunday in the AL wild-card race.