COMMENTARY
At 95-44, the Red Sox took into Tuesday an 8.5-game lead atop the American League East, and with 23 games to play in the regular season. Were they to stumble through September, go 11-12 the rest of the way, and finish 106-56, the Yankees would need to go 20-4 from Tuesday forward just to force a one-game playoff atop the division.
Around here, one-game playoff talk elicits memories of 1978 – so for the purposes of comparison, with 23 games to go in that season, the Sox lead over the Yankees was already down to three games.