Why Red Sox are Still Well Positioned in Playoff Race Despite Skid originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
There's no doubt the Red Sox are not playing their best baseball at the moment, having lost five consecutive games to halt what had been a monumental summer.
After nearly eclipsing the Yankees for second place in the AL East, Boston is now a full four games behind New York and 10 behind the Rays in the division.
There is good news for the Red Sox: in the chase for a return to the postseason, the rest of the American League is cooperating. Boston is still positioned well to make the postseason, with plenty of room for error even after the recent skid.
Here's a look at why the AL standings are working out well for the Red Sox.
AL wild-card standings
Despite the losing streak, the Red Sox remain five games clear of falling out of a postseason spot and 4.5 games clear of the third wild-card team in the AL:
| Position | Team | Record | GB |
| WC1 | Yankees | 68-52 | +9.0 |
| WC2 | Red Sox | 64-56 | +5.0 |
| WC3 | Rangers | 60-61 | +0.5 |
| — | Twins | 60-62 | 0.5 |
| — | Tigers | 59-61 | 0.5 |
| — | Guardians | 59-62 | 1.0 |
| — | Blue Jays | 59-63 | 1.5 |
| — | Orioles | 58-63 | 2.0 |
| — | Mariners | 56-65 | 4.0 |
Boston's losing streak is longer than every AL team other than the Mariners entering Thursday, but the Rangers are coming off back-to-back losses to the Angels and the Twins and Guardians are both playing sub-.500 baseball over their last 10 games.
The Tigers and Blue Jays have been on the rise, with Toronto handling business against the Red Sox, but there is still a sizable gap between Boston and these other teams in the wild-card mix.
If the standings continue to play out the way, the only consequence for finishing behind the Yankees would be having to play at Yankee Stadium, not Fenway Park, in the wild-card series. The Red Sox would much rather play at home, but that's still an ideal scenario compared to the way their season was looking as recently as early July.