We know this much after Monday night's slate of baseball: The Red Sox and Rays will each play a meaningful game on Wednesday, the season's last day.
Boston continued its historic tailspin on Monday night in Baltimore where Robert Andino's inside-the-park home run made the difference in a 6-3 win for the Orioles. Meanwhile, in Florida, James Shields came up big once again for the Rays, delivering 8 2/3 innings for Tampa Bay to beat the Yankees.
That, of course, means Boston and Tampa are now tied atop the wild-card standings with two games left for each team to play.
It's now a two-horse race, as well, after the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim fell to Texas on Monday night. The loss knocks the Halos out of contention. They would have needed to sweep, have the Sox get swept and the Rays to lose two of three this week just to make it a three-way tie.
Erik Bedard will take the mound on Tuesday for the Red Sox in Baltimore opposite young lefty Zach Britton. Down in St. Petersburg, Joe Maddon will hand the ball to Jeremy Hellickson as he tries to shut down the Yankees, who will have Bartolo Colon making the start.
If the Sox and Rays are tied at season's end, they will play a one-game playoff on Thursday at Tampa Bay.
