The Boston Red Sox's chance at making a postseason run are getting lower and lower every day. After Tuesday's brutal 8-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, they may not have much of a path anymore.
Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas spoke about what his thought process is as the regular season comes to a close to Ian Browne of MLB.com.
“It’s coming down to the wire, but it feels like we’ve got to run the table at this point,” Casas said. “It's been a tough season. but that's not to say that we can't finish strong on a high note and win these last however many games and see where it puts us.”
The Red Sox currently have a 75-76 record and are five games back of the Minnesota Twins for the third and final American League Wild Card spot. With 11 games left in the regular season, the Red Sox need to just about be perfect if they want to be able to make up those five games and sneak into the postseason.
The one thing that the Red Sox can point to to give them some hope: their next opponent after the Rays series is the Twins. On Friday, the Twins will head to Boston for a crucial three game series that could catapult them back into the thick of the AL Wild Card race.
However, even if they manage to sweep the Twins, the Red Sox would still have to contend with the surging Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners, who both sit between the Red Sox and the Twins in the Wild Card standings.
Red Sox lose brutal game to Rays as postseason hopes dwindle
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Things appeared to be looking up for the Red Sox early in Tuesday's game against the Rays, but things quickly unraveled. After getting an early 2-0 lead off of a second inning two-run home run from Casas, not much else went right.
The Rays got home runs for young shortstop Junior Caminero, Josh Lowe, Jose Siri and Brandon Lowe and were able to capitalize on a two-out bases-clearing double from Siri after the ball got passed a diving Tyler O'Neill as he tried to go for the heroic catch.
Time is running out for the Red Sox to turn their season around. Like Casas said, they just need to focus on winning as many games as possible down the stretch.
