The Tampa Bay Rays fell two and a half games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League wild card chase after losing two games to the New York Yankees Wednesday by identical 4-2 scores. The wins also gave the Yankees the AL East title.
Boston also lost, 6-4 to Baltimore, to drop its record to 5-15 in September. The Angels are now also two and a half games back after beating Toronto 7-2. Texas beat Oakland 3-2 and its magic number to clinch the AL West is three.
Today, Texas is at Oakland, Tampa Bay is at New York and Los Angeles is at Toronto; the other contenders are off.
In the National League, Atlanta’s wild card lead over St.Louis is down to a game and a half after it lost to Florida 4-0 and the Cardinals beat the Mets 6-5. Milwaukee lost 7-1 to Chicago so its magic number to clinch the NL Central is three while Arizona’s magic number to clinch the NL West is two after an 8-5 win over Pittsburgh. San Francisco is three and a half games back in the wild card as well.
St.Louis plays New York today while San Francisco is at Los Angeles; all the other contenders are off.