Fans and media tend to make more out of a team being officially eliminated than do the players. They knew weeks ago that this day was coming. That it finally came on a random Tuesday night in Chicago didn't much matter.

“There’s no fun going home before you want to, regardless of what’s happened,” Terry Francona said. “I think the world of those guys in that clubhouse and the effort. I want to keep playing.”

The one guy who did show some emotion was team captain Jason Varitek, who acknowledged that the coming five games could be his last with the Red Sox.

“It’s there,” he said, his voice cracking. “That’s obvious. I mean, I try not to think about it and I hope you guys don’t ask me too much about it over the weekend. But it’s there. Definitely, it’s there.”

Varitek exercised a $3 million contract option to stay with the team last November. Had he not, the Red Sox were fully prepared to move on without him. There are no more options left. He'll be a free agent and at 38 is unlikely to be retained at any price.

Tonight was only the third game he has started since coming off the disabled list on Sept. 6. In Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the Red Sox have already obtained a catcher they believe can serve as a backup next season. All the signs are there.

Varitek has played 1,477 games for the Red Sox since being called up for the first time in 1997 and been a key part of two World Series winners. He is adamant about continuing his career but clearly is wrestling with the emotions of leaving the Red Sox.

“I try and focus on what I have to do,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”

Most of the players dressed in a hurry after the game and fled into the Chicago night. Varitek sat at his locker, his knees swaddled in ice. He held an empty water bottle between his fingers, spinning it back and forth without saying a word.

After we got done speaking to him, Varitek sat back down on his chair. He didn't look to be in a hurry to leave. But come Sunday, that may be it.