The Red Sox’ miniscule margin for error got a little tighter overnight.
Tampa Bay beat the Orioles 5-2, moving within three games of Boston in the wild card race. Meanwhile, the Yankees won, increasing their AL East lead on the Sox to four games.
That means Boston can basically forget about the division, given the way they’ve been playing lately. Right now, it’s all about survival.
And survival isn’t the sure bet it was a few weeks ago. Before the Sox’ latest five-game skid, they were postseason shoo-ins. Now, ESPN has them with an 86.7 percent chance of making the playoffs.
Boston has 16 games left in the regular season. They host Toronto tonight, when Tim Wakefield will try for his 200th career win. The Rays are in town for four over the weekend.
