The Boston Red Sox, for a third straight season, are champions of the American League East.
But their regular-season work isn’t done yet.
Boston wrapped up the division Thursday night in the Bronx, and they’ve all but clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs at this point, too. Boston’s magic number for that is now down to two.
Here’s the rest of the Major League Baseball playoff picture as it stands now with a little more than a week left in the season.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY:
One-Game Wild-Card Playoff
Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees
League Division Series
Wild-card winner at Boston Red Sox
Cleveland Indians at Houston Astros
Notes: Improbably, the Tampa Bay Rays (and Seattle Mariners) have yet to be eliminated, but they need miracles. Both teams would need to nearly win out and have Oakland or the Yankees suffer an epic collapse. … If Tampa Bay can have a good weekend and the Yankees stumble, next week’s four-game series will get pretty interesting. … Oakland, which has won its last two games by a combined score of 31-3, doesn’t look ready to concede home-field advantage in the wild-card game to the Yankees.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
One-Game Wild-Card Playoff
St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers
League Division Series
Wild-card winner at Chicago Cubs
Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers
Notes: Not a single National League team has clinched a playoff spot yet. … Colorado, in its attempt to catch St. Louis, can bury Arizona with a three-game series this weekend. … The race for home-field advantage in the NLDS is still very much alive, as the Dodgers and Braves have the same record. … Both of those teams technically could still chase down the Cubs, too. … The same can be said for the wild-card game; Milwaukee and St. Louis play a three-game series at Busch Stadium next week
