The reigning World Series champions are in danger of missing the postseason, depriving the Boston Red Sox of the chance to defend their throne.
We’re nearly a week into September and the Red Sox sit 6.5 games behind the Oakland A’s for the second Wild Card spot. The Tampa Bay Rays are half a game ahead of Oakland for the rights to host the one-game playoff while the Cleveland Indians lurk one game back of a Wild Card spot.
Boston needs to leap over at least two of those teams to qualify for the postseason, a seemingly impossible task with the clock winding down on the 2019 season.