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The Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox are in fairly urgent situations. Both lost their American League Division Series openers and know that dropping a second straight game would not be good for their postseason aspirations.

The Rangers will try to even their series with the Toronto Blue Jays by sending Yu Darvish to the mound Friday afternoon (1:08 p.m. ET, TBS) against 20-game winner J.A. Happ.

Game 1 of the series was disastrous for the home team. The Blue Jays scored five runs in the top of the third inning and then rolled to a 10-1 victory over Texas ace Cole Hamels. The big bats of Jose Bautista (three-run home run) and Troy Tulowitizki (bases-loaded triple) were booming for the Blue Jays, while Texas could do very little with Marco Estrada.

The Toronto starter pitched 8.1 innings before manager John Gibbons pulled him after giving up four hits, striking out six and not walking a batter.

More than anything, the Texas offense will need to come alive. The Rangers were a resounding 53-28 at home this season, as players like Ian Desmond (22 HR, 86 RBI), Carlos Beltran (seven HR since being traded at the deadline by the New York Yankees), Adrian Beltre (32 HR and 104 RBI) and Rougned Odor (.502 slugging percentage, 33 HR) were able to come up with key hits on a regular basis.

Happ will not be easy for the Rangers to solve. He was 20-4 with a 3.18 ERA and a solid 1.169 WHIP, and he also was an impressive 9-2 on the road.

Darvish was 10-7 with a 3.06 ERA and a 1.261 WHIP in his 22 starts this year. The 30-year-old Japanese pitcher was 6-2 at home this year, but his ERA jumped to 4.26 at Globe Life Park.

The Red Sox are depending on David Price to even their series with the Indians after Game 1 starter Rick Porcello gave up three home runs in the third inning and Boston dropped a 5-4 decision.

Price comes into Game 2 of the series (4:38 p.m ET, TBS) with a 2-7 lifetime postseason record, which almost certainly means that there will be some uneasiness in the Red Sox dugout.

Price was somewhat inconsistent throughout the first half of the season but was much better after the All-Star break, going 8-3 with a 3.58 ERA.

Price told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe that he was unconcerned about his unimpressive postseason record:

I just want to help this team win.That’s the bottom line. That’s the mind-set I want to take out there on the fifth day. And that’s the mind-set I want my teammates to have. I want to be dominant. I want to have that really good postseason game and I know that I’m capable of doing that and I’m excited to pitch [Friday].

Price’s opponent will be Cleveland ace Corey Kluber, who was 18-9 with a 3.14 ERA and a sharp 1.056 WHIP.

The only issue for Kluber is that it has been nearly two weeks since he last pitched as a result of a quadriceps strain. Kluber said he is feeling good and told Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe that he is not worried about being rusty.

The Rangers and Red Sox are not in must-win positions just yet, but both teams need to pick it up considerably after coming up with less than their best efforts in the first games of their respective series.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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FINAL SCORE:  Indians 5, Red Sox 4, Cleveland leads the series, 1-0

The Cleveland Indians belted three home runs in the bottom of the third inning against Red Sox starter Rick Porcello, and defeated the Red Sox in the opener of the American League Division Series.

The Red Sox scored a run in the eighth inning on a Brock Holt home run, and had the tying run at third later that inning and on base again in the ninth but they could not push the tying run home.

Cody Allen struck out Dustin Pedroia on a breaking ball to end the game.

While Allen got the save, the key move of the game came when Cleveland manager Terry Francona took out starter Trevor Bauer and replaced him with left-handed ace Andrew Miller in the fifth inning. Miller shut down the powerful Red Sox for two full innings, and that allowed the Indians to hold the lead and maintain momentum.

Roberto Perez, Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor all homered for the Indians, while Andrew Benintendi, Sandy Leon and Brock Holt homered for the Red Sox.

The two teams will meet in Game 2 on Friday afternoon.

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The waiting is just about over for the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers. The Toronto Blue Jays just want to pick it up from where they left off Tuesday night.

The Blue Jays won their Wild Card Game against the Baltimore Orioles when Edwin Encarnacion launched an Ubaldo Jimenez pitch into the second deck in left field with two runners on in the bottom of the 11th inning at the Rogers Centre, giving the Blue Jays a 5-2 walk-off victory.

Toronto at Texas

The Blue Jays go to Texas Thursday night, where the Rangers will send Cole Hamels to the mound to face Marco Estrada.

These two teams met in last year’s ALDS, and Toronto had the home-field advantage and won the series in five games.

This year, the Rangers have the home-field edge, and they will get to play the fifth game in the best-of-five series in Texas if the series goes that far. The two teams engaged in a memorable confrontation in May when the Rangers’ Rougned Odor punched Toronto’s Jose Bautista.

The Blue Jays would love to get the jump in the series and win Game 1 on the road. For that to happen, they may need to get to Hamels early. The left-handed Hamels had a 15-5 record for the Rangers this year with a 3.32 earned run average.

His WHIP was a vulnerable 1.306, but he struck out 200 batters in 200.2 innings. They need to get to Hamels early because he is their No. 1 pitcher, and his momentum will build the longer he holds the free-swinging Blue Jays in check. However, Hamels was more effective on the road this season, where he recorded a 10-3 record and opposing batters hit .216 off him. 

Hamels was 5-2 at home, and batters were much more successful, hitting .274 off of him.

The Rangers were comfortable playing at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. They were 53-28 at home this year, and they were at their best in close games. Texas had a remarkable 36-11 in one-run games, and that was by far the best record in the majors.

Obviously, manager Jeff Banister would love to see his Rangers get off to a big lead in Game 1 and roll to an easy win, but the Rangers are comfortable in close games. 

Estrada went 9-9 during the regular season with a 3.48 ERA, and he finished even stronger, with only two runs allowed over his final 19 innings pitched, with 19 strikeouts across those three games.

Toronto Key: Get to Hamels early and make the Rangers fight from behind.

Texas Key: Keep the game close and depend on the home-field edge and the ability to win close games.

Boston at Cleveland

Boston won 11 games in a row in September, and that winning streak allowed the Red Sox to gain control of what had been a tight American League East race. They were able to clinch the title with several days to spare.

The Indians have been in control of the American League Central for most of the season. They depended on strong pitching and the clutch hitting of Mike Napoli (34 HR and 101 RBI) and Carlos Santana (34 HR and 87 RBI) to gain control and put away the Detroit Tigers and the 2015 World Series champion Kansas City Royals.

While the Indians had sensational starting pitching at one point this season, they are at a disadvantage as the players get underway. While they have Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer in their rotation, Carlos Carrasco (fractured bone in hand) and Danny Salazar (forearm) are both injured and will not be available for manager Terry Francona. 

As a result, Bauer will get the ball in Game 1 for the Indians. He had a respectable 12-8 record, but his 4.26 ERA and 1.311 WHIP means he may be in over his head against a slugging team like the Red Sox.

Boston manager John Farrell will counter with Rick Porcello, who is a legitimate Cy Young Award candidate after going 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.009 WHIP.

Porcello did a remarkable job on the road for the Red Sox, going 9-3 and holding batters to a .219 average.

Bauer would seem to have a difficult job in holding a Red Sox lineup that includes Dustin Pedroia (.318 batting average, 201 hits), Mookie Betts (31 HR, 113 RBI, 26 stolen bases), David Ortiz (38, 127 RBI) and Hanley Ramirez (30 HR, 111 RBI) in check.

Boston key: Make Bauer work hard by getting deep in the count and lashing the ball all over Progressive Field.

Cleveland key: Don’t get frustrated if Boston gets off to a lead. Keep attacking Porcello and don’t try to pull every pitch. Get clutch hits from Napoli and Santana. 

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The Boston Red Sox were remarkable in the month of September and took control of what had been a tight American League East when they won 11 games in a row.

That streak enabled them to get the best of the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles, and while they lost five of their final six games, they still won the division comfortably.

The Red Sox open the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians on the road, but they appear to have an edge over their hosts because of the powerful lineup that manager John Farrell has to unload.

The Red Sox scored an MLB-high 878 runs, and they have a powerful lineup that features Dustin Pedroia (201 hits; .318 batting average), David Ortiz (38 home runs), Mookie Betts (214 hits; 113 RBI) and Hanley Ramirez (30 HR; 111 RBI).

The Indians feature the slugging of former Red Sox Mike Napoli (34 home runs) and Carlos Santana (34 home runs), but it will be difficult for manager Terry Francona’s team to match Boston’s production.

Rick Porcello will start for the Red Sox, and the 22-game winner has an edge over 12-game winner Trevor Bauer. The Cleveland starter had a 4.26 earned run average, and he was hit hard by the Red Sox during the regular season—10 hits and six earned runs in six innings.

Prediction: The Red Sox are battle-tested and have won three World Series in the Ortiz era. With Big Papi retiring, the Red Sox should play their best baseball in October. It should be good enough to overcome Cleveland in Game 1 of the ALDS.

Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers

With one swing of Edwin Encarnacion’s powerful bat in the bottom of the 11th inning, the Toronto Blue Jays wiped out the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night and advanced to the ALDS against the American League West champion Texas Rangers.

These two teams have a colorful recent history. The Blue Jays eliminated the Rangers in last year’s ALDS in five games. Earlier this season, the Rangers’ Rougned Odor landed a right-hand punch to the jaw of Jose Bautista. That May brawl is a leading storyline of the series, as CBS Sports MLB noted:

Bautista had memorably flipped his bat after hammering the series-winning home run in the seventh inning of the final game of the 2015 ALDS.

There should be several gallons of bad blood along with two excellent teams competing in this series.

With Cole Hamels on the mound for the Rangers, the Blue Jays are going to have a difficult time trying to scratch out a win on the road. Hamels was 15-5 this year, and the Rangers were 53-28 at home with a remarkable 36-11 record in one-run games.

While Toronto manager John Gibbons has not named his starter as of Wednesday night, 20-game winner J.A. Happ is likely to get the call.

Prediction: The Blue Jays will make this an excellent series, but the Rangers are strong at home, and they will take Game 1 by jumping out to an early lead and building on it.

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If the MLB postseason follows the same course the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles traveled Tuesday night, October will be a month to remember.

The Blue Jays picked up a 5-2 win in the one-game American League Wild Card Round at the Rogers Centre when slugger Edwin Encarnacion slammed a three-run homer off Ubaldo Jimenez in the bottom of the 11th inning, sending the home team into the American League Division Series against the AL West champion Texas Rangers.

That best-of-five series will get underway Thursday in Texas, with the Rangers holding home-field advantage.

The other American League series will feature the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians. The Red Sox won the AL East, outlasting the Blue Jays and Orioles thanks to an 11-game winning streak in September that saw them leave their two competitors behind.

The Indians gained control of the AL Central in the middle of the season thanks to a solid pitching staff and the sharp managing of Terry Francona. The Indians have home-field advantage in the series that also gets underway Thursday.

The two ALDS winners will meet in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series in mid-October, and the winner of that series will represent the Junior Circuit in the World Series.

The American League representative will have home-field advantage in the World Series, thanks to the American League’s 4-2 victory in the All-Star Game in July.

The National League Wild Card Game has a chance to join the American League game as a true classic. The San Francisco Giants may have slumped throughout the second half of the season, but they survived and will face the New York Mets at Citi Field in New York Wednesday night.

The Giants will send postseason ace Madison Bumgarner to the mound against Noah Syndergaard, and this should turn into a pitcher’s duel of epic proportions. 

But it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes a classic pitcher’s duel becomes a slugfest, and that could happen if neither pitcher is at his best.

The winner will earn the right to play the powerful Chicago Cubs in the National League Division Series.

The Cubs won 103 regular-season games, and this is supposed to be their year. However, the best regular-season team doesn’t always win, and when a team carries the burden of not having won a World Series since 1908, it may not be an easy run to the title that long-suffering Cubs fans are waiting to see.

The other National League series will feature the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. the Washington Nationals. Manager Dusty Baker’s Nats have home-field advantage in that one.

If the Cubs beat the wild-card winner, they will host the National League Championship Series against the Nats or Dodgers. If the Cubs fall short, the Los Angeles-Washington winner will have the home-field edge against the wild-card winner.

Prediction

The Red Sox had an indifferent final week of the season that saw them lose five of their final six games, which cost them home field against the Indians.

However, the Red Sox have the much more potent lineup, and they also have the healthier starting pitching. Look for Mookie Betts, David Ortiz, Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia to lead the Red Sox to a four-game win over the Indians.

The Blue Jays and Rangers engaged in a nasty playoff series a year ago, with the Blue Jays emerging victorious in five games. Look for the Rangers to win the series this year, also in five games.

The Red Sox will outlast Texas in six games in the ALCS, as Ortiz and Betts outslug the dangerous Rangers.

In the National League, the Giants and Bumgarner will outduel the Mets and Syndergaard. That will give San Francisco a chance to exercise its postseason muscle against the Cubs, but after Chicago nervously loses the first two games of the series at home, manager Joe Maddon’s team finds its stride and wins three straight.

The Dodgers will use their pitching edge to punish the Nats and win that series in four games. The Dodgers will push the Cubs hard, but Chicago will overcome past demons and win the NL pennant in seven games.

That will lead to a classic World Series between the Red Sox and the Cubs. The Red Sox used to be the team that couldn’t win the big one, but that has changed with three World Series titles since 2004.

They will use the motivation of Big Papi’s last stand to win the World Series in seven games and break hearts all over Chicago.

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The Major League Baseball postseason is something that’s supposed to build to a crescendo, with the most memorable note being sounded in the seventh game of the World Series.

The National League Wild Card Game is anything but a warm-up or an appetizer. It is a full-fledged marquee matchup between the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets, featuring two of the best pitchers in the league: Madison Bumgarner vs. Noah Syndergaard.

Bumgarner has a magnificent postseason legacy, having been the Most Valuable Player in the Giants’ 2014 World Series run. He has a 5-1 record in his last eight postseason games with a 0.91 ERA. Bumgarner was 15-9 with a 2.74 ERA during the 2016 regular season.

Syndergaard won Game 3 of the 2015 World Series against the Kansas City Royals, and that was the only game the Mets won in last year’s Fall Classic. He had a 2-1 record in last year’s postseason with a 3.32 ERA.

Syndergaard was 14-9 in 2016 with a 2.60 ERA while striking out 218 batters and walking 43.

The two teams will play Wednesday night at Citi Field in New York, and the game will be televised by ESPN. The game will be live-streamed at WatchESPN, but it will not be available at MLB.tv.

Bumgarner has also been at his best when pitching at Citi Field. He has a 4-0 record and an impressive 0.62 ERA.

Mets manager Terry Collins knows his team has a tough assignment, but the Mets beat Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers in last year’s National League Division Series and have come through under difficult circumstances

“It’s the big leagues and you are going to face great pitching in the postseason,” Collins told Mike Puma of the New York Post. “I know [the Giants] are in their clubhouse and saying, ‘Wow, we’ve got to face Syndergaard,’ so it should be a great game.”

The Mets are going to have to find out a way to scratch out a run or two against Bumgarner and hope that Syndergaard is on top of his game.

They showed quite a bit of power this season and are led by outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, who had 31 home runs and 86 RBI this year. Additionally, Curtis Granderson belted 30 homers, while Asdrubal Cabrera added 23 long balls. Jay Bruce hit 33 home runs in 2016, but 25 of those home runs were hit with the Cincinnati Reds before he was acquired by the Mets in a trade.

Neil Walker also hit 23 home runs, but he underwent season-ending lumbar surgery in September.

The Giants do not hit the long ball. Brandon Belt led the team with 17 home runs, and that was the lowest figure to lead any team in either the American or National League.

Third baseman Eduardo Nunez hit 16 home runs and drove in 67 runs on the season, while former postseason hero Buster Posey suffered a power downturn as he hit just 14 home runs while driving in 80.

While the Giants struggled badly in the second half of the season, they have a history of excelling in the postseason. They won the World Series in 2010, 2012 as well as 2014, and manager Bruce Bochy has shown that he knows how to get the most out of his team when it matters most.

If the Giants are going to survive and advance this year, they will need their ace to outduel the Mets’ best pitcher in a game that could be remembered as a postseason classic.

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After a brilliant 11-game winning streak in September allowed them to move into first place and clinch the American League East title, the Boston Red Sox (93-69) played indifferent baseball in the final week of the season and lost five of their final six games.

That allowed the American League Central champion Cleveland Indians (94-67) to take advantage and finish with a better season-long record than the Red Sox and earn home-field advantage in their American League Division Series.

The best-of-five series begins Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Red Sox and Indians will play two games in Cleveland (Game Two is Friday), followed by two games at Fenway Park (Sunday and Monday), while a fifth game would be played Wednesday in Cleveland, if necessary.

Even though the Indians have the advantage of playing a potentially decisive game on their own turf, they could have a difficult time surviving this series. Injuries have hurt the Cleveland pitching staff, while the Red Sox starting pitching has improved throughout the season.

Earlier in the year, the Indians appeared to have the starting pitching advantage with Trevor Bauer, Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco. However, Salazar and Carrasco are both on the shelf with injuries.

The Red Sox have Cy Young candidates Rick Porcello and David Price at the top of their rotation followed by the resurgent Clay Buchholz and Eduardo Rodriguez.

The Indians are likely to go with veteran right-hander Josh Tomlin as their Game 3 starter, before returning to Bauer and Kluber for the final two games, if necessary.

Porcello had a brilliant season, compiling a 22-4 record along with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP, according to CBSSports.com. Price was inconsistent for more than half the season, but he found his stride after the All-Star Game and finished with a 17-9 record and a 3.99 ERA.

Bauer was 12-8 with a 4.26 ERA this season, but he was not effective when facing the Red Sox. Bauer gave up six runs on 10 hits in two games against Boston, and his ERA was 9.00 against them, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.

The Red Sox have a powerful lineup that includes Dustin Pedroia (.318 batting average, 201 hits), Mookie Betts (.318, 31 home runs, 113 RBI, 26 stolen bases), David Ortiz (.315, 38 HR) and Hanley Ramirez (30 HR, 111 RBI), and they may be licking their chops for a chance to get at Bauer.

The Indians have a couple of strong power bats in Mike Napoli (a former Red Sox star) and Carlos Santana. Both players slugged 34 home runs this season and they will be difficult to shut down.

Porcello had just one start vs. the Indians and pitched well in 5.2 innings, while Price was 1-0 with a 3.15 ERA against Cleveland.

Red Sox manager John Farrell said his team is still in good shape even though it had a tough final week. “We’re still very confident,” Farrell told Cafardo. “We’re very confident in how we’ve played on the road. That’s what we’re dealt with and we’ll deal with it.”

The Red Sox would seem to have an advantage in this series because of their powerful offense. They scored a league-high 878 runs, 101 more than the Indians who finished second in that category. Combine that with the health of the starting pitching and the Red Sox are likely to be moving on to the American League Championship Series.

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After battling for the East Division title throughout the summer, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles won the two wild-card spots in the American League playoffs on the final day of the regular season.

The two teams clinched their playoff spots as the Orioles beat the New York Yankees and the Blue Jays defeated the A.L. East champion Boston Red Sox.

The Jays actually won their playoff spot about 45 minutes prior to finishing off their victory. The clinching moment took place when the Atlanta Braves beat the Detroit Tigers and eliminated them from playoff contention.

The Blue Jays will host the Orioles in the Wild Card Game Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre. TBS will televise the game at 8 p.m. ET.

Both teams finished with 89-73 records, but the the Blue Jays earned home field in this matchup since they won the season series by a razor-thin 10-9 margin.

The winner of the Wild Card Game will meet the Texas Rangers in the AL Division Series, since Texas finished as the top seed in the American League.

The Orioles and the Blue Jays had designs on winning the division title as both teams had the lead at various points throughout the summer. However, when the Red Sox won 11 games in a row in September, both teams had to scramble to make the playoffs.

The Orioles have played solid baseball throughout the final month of the season, with the exception of getting swept in a four-game series at home by the Red Sox. Baltimore finished the season by going 17-12 in September and October.

The Orioles went 10-5 in their last 15 road games.

Manager Buck Showalter was not ready to say who would start against the Blue Jays, but it appears that he will most likely hand the ball to Chris Tillman or Ubaldo Jimenez.

The Blue Jays started the month of September with the lead in the American League East, but their powerful hitting attack struggled with its consistency, and their bullpen had issues.

Their 13-16 record in their last 29 games indicates that the Jays are not in top form, but they won two pressure-packed games in Boston to potentially right their ship.

It seems likely that Marcus Stroman or Francisco Liriano will get the start Tuesday night for the Jays, but manager John Gibbons has not announced his starting pitcher.

The Blue Jays and Orioles are powerful, slugging teams capable of hitting the long ball with regularity. The Blue Jays will depend on Josh Donaldson (37 HR, 99 RBI), Edwin Encarnacion (42 HR, 127 RBI), Jose Bautista (22 HR) and Troy Tulowitzki (24 HR) for the bulk of their production.

The Orioles are built in a similar manner, and they need Manny Machado (37 HR, 96 RBI), American League home run leader Mark Trumbo (47 HR), Chris Davis (38 HR) and Adam Jones (29 HR and 83 RBI) to produce.

Prediction

While neither team has announced its starting pitching, this game figures to come down to how well both teams handle the final innings.

Having a lead late in the game would be a good thing for the Blue Jays with the talented and powerful arm of Roberto Osuna (36 saves in 41 opportunities, 2.68 earned-run average), but it would be a near-lock for the Orioles with Zach Britton (47 saves in 47 opportunities, 0.54 ERA). Britton is a legitimate Cy Young contender, and his remarkable sinker is almost impossible to hit.

Playing at home should be an advantage for the Blue Jays, but the Orioles played better baseball during September-October, and they played particularly well on the road.

Look for Machado to drive in the go-ahead run in the late innings and Britton to preserve the lead with a shutdown ninth inning.

Baltimore advances to the American League Division Series with a 6-5 win over the Blue Jays and their raucous fans.

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There are just two full days left in the regular season, yet there is still plenty of excitement in both the American and National Leagues when it comes to the wild-card qualifiers.

Both leagues are set as far as the division winners are concerned, as the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers have taken the East, Central and West, respectively, in the American League.

The Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers have clinched their divisions as well. The Cubs will have home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs.

The Texas Rangers will have home-field advantage as long as they remain alive, as they clinched the AL’s top seed after their 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night, and should they advance to the World Series, they would have home-field advantage there as a result of the AL’s victory over the NL in the All-Star Game.

Any AL representative will have the home-field edge in the Fall Classic.

The Toronto Blue Jays suffered 5-3 loss Friday night to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. They now hold the second wild-card spot by just a half game over the Detroit Tigers. The loss was exacerbated by the Baltimore Orioles’ 8-1 victory over the New York Yankees and the Tigers’ 6-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

The Orioles have a one-game lead over the Blue Jays and sit in the No. 1 wild-card spot, and the Seattle Mariners remain in contention. The Mariners whipped the Oakland A’s 5-1 on Friday night.

The NL race for the wild card is still wide open, but the New York Mets have a magic number of one after beating the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1. At worst, the Mets will play an extra game at the end of the season because they will be in no worse position than a tie for the second wild-card spot.

When they take the field Saturday at Philadelphia, the Mets will have a one-game lead over the San Francisco Giants, who used a seven-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat the Dodgers 9-3 on Friday night.

The St. Louis Cardinals are two games behind the Mets and one game behind the Giants, as they rolled to a 7-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

World Series Odds

The Cubs remain the favorites to capture their first World Series since 1908.

Manager Joe Maddon’s team clinched the NL Central earlier in September and has a whopping 19-game lead over the second-place Cardinals. Chicago is a 9-4 favorite to win baseball’s championship, according to Odds Shark, meaning a $100 wager would return a profit of $225 should the Cubs go all the way.

The Red Sox surged to the division title with a remarkable 11-game winning streak earlier in September and are the second choice to win the World Series at 5-1. The Rangers, Blue Jays and Nationals all follow at 13-2.

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There was no celebration for the Boston Red Sox in Yankee Stadium Tuesday night, as the AL East leaders saw their 11-game winning streak go by the board in a 6-4 loss to the New York Yankees.

That loss coupled with a 5-1 victory by the Toronto Blue Jays over the Baltimore Orioles cut Boston’s lead to five games and left its magic number at one to clinch the division title. 

But there is no panic in the Boston locker room, and there shouldn’t be. One more Red Sox victory or one more Toronto defeat will give Boston the division title. The Red Sox have already clinched a playoff spot.

The Cleveland Indians have already clinched the AL Central, while the Texas Rangers have already done the same in the AL West.

The real race in the American League is for the wild-card spots, and the Blue Jays are in an excellent position to nail one down.

After the Blue Jays finish their three-game series with the Orioles, they will travel to Boston and close the season with three games against the Red Sox.

The Jays currently hold the top wild-card spot and have a two-game edge over the Orioles, who have had an up-and-down 13-11 record in September. 

Nevertheless, the Orioles hold a one-game lead over the Detroit Tigers, and it seems that those two teams will engage in a fight to the finish for the final wild-card spot.

The Tigers rolled to a huge 12-0 victory over the Indians Tuesday night.

The Tigers appear to have the scheduling edge over the O’s. After two more home games with the Indians, they go to Atlanta to close the season with three games against the Braves.

While Atlanta has played better baseball recently, winning seven of its last 10 games, it has been buried in last place in the National League East for months.

The Orioles have two more games at Toronto, where the Blue Jays have the support of their raucous fans. After that series, the Orioles stay on the road and close the regular season with three games in New York against the Yankees.

The Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros and Kansas City Royals are still alive in the wild-card race, but they are far less likely to reach the playoffs.

The Mariners are two games behind the Orioles, but it would be difficult for them to leapfrog both the Tigers and the Orioles, and it would be even tougher for the Astros, Yankees and Royals.

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