Boston Red Sox, Mlb Playoffs | featured news

The Boston Red Sox completed their September collapse in horrific and historic fashion, falling out of the playoff chase by allowing two ninth-inning runs in a 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.

A little late-season magic helped both Boston and Tampa Bay, and they enter the final day of the regular season tied for the A.L. wild card.

The Tampa Bay Rays moved into a tie with the Boston Red Sox for the wild-card lead, beating the New York Yankees 5-2 on Monday night behind another strong performance by James Shields.

Never in the long history of Major League Baseball has any team held a lead in September of eight games or more for a postseason berth and failed to clinch... And yet it could happen twice in 2011, because the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves are teetering on the verge of collapsing in the season's final month the way no club has before.

The Tampa Bay Rays moved within 1½ games of Boston in the AL wild-card race, getting a clutch three-run homer from Johnny Damon in a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night.

Jered Weaver followed John Lackey’s Game 1 shutout with a splendid seven and a third innings in a 4-1 victory.

John Lackey pitched into the eighth inning and Torii Hunter hit a three-run homer off the rock pile in center field, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox in their playoff opener Thursday night.

Even before Mariano Rivera fielded the final ball, the party started for the New York Yankees. Catcher Jose Molina leaped up from behind the plate the moment Jacoby Ellsbury tapped softly back to the mound, then the celebration really got going. Absent from the playoffs last year, the Yankees let loose Sunday after clinching the AL East title and home-field advantage throughout the postseason with a 4-2 win over Boston....