Red Sox: The magic number is 8

The Red Sox split their doubleheader with the Orioles yesterday, leaving them with a two-game lead over the Rays in the wild-card race.

That and the number of games each team has remaining works out to a magic number of eight.

The simplest way to explain that: If the total number of Red Sox wins and Rays losses for the rest of the year reaches eight, Boston clinches the playoff spot. Red Sox losses and Rays wins do not affect the total.