Tie goes to the Rays

Wrong, Tony. ... The second tiebreaker is NOT overall AL record; it's overall DIVISIONAL record. ... So TB is in better shape than Boston even if Boston wins tonight and the two finish tied at 9-9 in head-to-head. ... TB would be 38-30 in the AL East with 4 games left against the crumbling O's, while the Red Sox would be 36-31 in the division with 6 games left against Toronto's pitching and the Yankees. ... If they finish 9-9 in head-to-head, we likely won't know which way the second tiebreaker will go until the final game of the year, NYY @ BOS. ... So Boston really had to sweep this series, not just win 2 of 3, to have a good chance at winning the division.

From a Sept. 12, 2008, MLB press release:

"If two clubs from the same division are tied but both are assured of participating in the postseason, then the first tie-breaker to determine which club is the Division Champion and which club is the Wild Card would be their 2008 season-series record. The second tie-breaker is divisional record."

Boston.com: You're right Paulie ... our bad on that one (we originally reported the second tiebreaker as record vs. AL teams). The column hs been adjusted to reflect the change in the second tiebreaker.

Clearly, it will be better to play the ChiSox at home, than the Angels away in round one. Losing tonight will make this much more difficult to achieve. Let's hope Wakefield has his usual Trop magic.....

I hear what everyone is saying about the importance of tonight's game, but if the end goal is to win the World Series, you will likely have to play the Angels in round one or round two, so does it matter that much? I suppose you can wish for the Rays or the White Sox/Twins to knock off the Angels in the first round, but don't count on it. A five game series with the Angels with our pitching matchups might not be that bad. Yes, I know that we lost the regular season series 1-9.

@Paulie,

Learn to read. Tony said that the second tiebreaker is best divisional record.

"Still, while a loss against Tampa Wednesday might end thoughts of a division title, a victory could help them. A Boston win would leave the clubs at 9-9 in head-to-head play, which would invoke a second tiebreaker: best record in divisional play. "

Goofball.

Bottom line:, we want home field advantage, so we need to win the division.

So Mazz is pretty much useless.

Ah, yes. Tropicana Field. The architectural masterpiece consisting of three band-aids, four cat walks, and a prayer. Not to worry Red Sox Nation. A Sox win tonight, plus winning eight out of the ten remaining games (following tonight) would probably assure a Division Title. Historically, stranger things have happened in baseball's final 11 days of regular season play. If indeed the Rays can match or exceed that pace, there may be something to the "Destiny" theory. Let's win tonight's game and see what happens... The Rays must play a four game series with a desperate, highly motivated Twins team. Beyond this, the Rays are on the road for the remainder of the regular season. It's not over yet....

As for winning the division, you have it right that tonight's game has a big effect in the Red Sox chances.

Math, momentum and Ray's confidence level work a lot better for the Sox with a win tonight. That is a lot of ground to make up in relatively few games with a loss and the tiebreakers. With a win, it is much closer to a toss-up after tonight with essentially one game to make up in the standings to take the division because of the tiebreaker.

The Red Sox home field scheduling advantage and day off work to their advantage (although they do have to play the Blue Jays). With the added pressure of tighter standings that would come with a Red Sox win tonight, Tampa Bay's lesser experience and heavier schedule would probably come into play more down the stretch.

And a division win matters. It sets them up better for the playoffs, which will be challenging but doable either way. I'd rather have the Rays battle with the Angels in the first round.

Mike in Seattle, they fixed the damn story because Paulie pointed out the mistake.

Don't be too hard on Mike, Gunt..., he couldn't possibly have figured that out because he's 3 hours behind!

Um, Mazz? You might want to check your game tickets and your game seat location. The Rays play in St. Petersburg--across the bay from Tampa. They've never played in Tampa. The Tropicana is in downtown St. Petersburg. The Raiders don't play in San Francisco and the Rays don't play in Tampa.

It's funny Mazz... I actually woke up this morning thinking about this! I didn't know what the second tie-breaker would be if both teams ended up 9-9 against one another this season, so I googled it this morning. It's nice to see I'm not the only one that thinks about these things.

The Trop is a great place to watch a game. It's hot as hell down here and rainy. You guys are already wearing coats up there. Who wants to put a winter coat on to watch a baseball game? Oh yeah. Sox nation does. I guess they get warmed up with the World Famous Beans first. Wakefield is going down tonight.. They've changed the humidity and temp in the Trop just for him. Can you say meatball?

Are the good folks at Boston.com asking you to fill too much space Tony? Just last week didn't you say the series with the Rays in Boston was more important to the Rays than the Sox? Isn't it just important PERIOD for the Sox to win any series against the Rays? Something they aren't doing.

Your article failed to mention that the Rays play their last 8 games on the road,albeit against the Orioles and Tigers. The Rays are under .500 on the road and that probably won't change. The Sox meanwhile finish with 7 at home. This weekend may determine the division winner as the Rays play the Twins to finish their home schedule and the Sox wrap up their road schedule in Toronto. This should go down to the wire. It'll keep next week interesting.

My concern isn't winning the division so much (because they'd really have to choke to blow the wild card at this point), it's the lack of a killer instinct when they have their prey where they want them.

Both last week and this week, with chances to pass Tampa Bay, the Sox opened three game series with the Rays by winning the first game, setting them up for the kill...then losing the next two.

To me, that spells trouble. It's almost as if the team was satisfied with catching Tampa, then they relaxed, thinking this will be a breeze now, they have to be trembling in their boots, etc.

Well, the Rays are a tougher team than that. They proved it after blowing a big lead right before the All Star break, watching the Sox pull ahead of them...and we all thought that would be FOR GOOD the rest of the season.

Not so. These guys battled back, and went ahead again.

Then, the Sox nearly caught them,then DID catch them...only to get beaten back by these upstarts-- twice within two weeks, now.

Having a healthy, motivated Beckett might change everything in the post-season...but, it's disturbing that these 2008 Red Sox don't seem to know how to finish teams off.

It must be embarrassing for Tony to have to rely on the local sports fans he hates so much to do his job for him.