10/5: On Tuesday night, the Yankees and Red Sox played a one-game playoff (Wild Card). The winner of that game plays the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS. The pitching matchup was Gerrit Cole vs. Nathan Eovaldi. In the bottom of the first, Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run homer for the Red Sox, and they were quickly up 2-0. In the bottom of the 3rd, Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run to make the Red Sox lead 3-0. Gerrit Cole was taken out of the game immediately after. On the other side of the ball, Nathan Eovaldi went five ⅓ innings pitched with giving up one earned run and striking out 8. He also had no walks. Eovaldi was more dominant, and pitching wins games in the playoffs. In the bottom of the 6th, Anthony Rizzo hit a solo home run for the Yankees, and the lead was cut to 3-1. Shortly after the Yankee’s top of the inning, the Red Sox answered with an Alex Verdugo double and cushioned the Red Sox lead to 4-1. Alex Verdugo also came up clutch again in the bottom of the 7th by hitting a two-run single, making the Red Sox lead 6-1. The Yankees, with no hope left, go into the 9th inning with three outs remaining, and if they don’t score five runs, their season is over. In the bottom of the 9th, Giancarlo Stanton hits a solo home run for the Yankees, which cuts the Red Sox lead to 6-2. Shortly after, Joey Gallo and Gleyber Torres fly out, and the game belongs to the Red Sox. The Red Sox have eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs, and the Red Sox will be traveling to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays.

10/7-10/10: The Red Sox are going to Tampa to face the Rays in the ALDS. If you’re the Rays, you need to win at least one of these two games at home. If you’re the Red Sox, you can’t be down 2-0 in the series going home. The pitching matchup for game 1 is Shane Mclanahan for the Rays and Eduardo Rodriguez for the Rays. In the Rays bottom half of the first inning, they put up two runs to start the series. Wander Franco put the Rays up 1-0 on the double to left-center field. Yandy Diaz also came up clutch with an RBI base hit to make the game 2-0. On the other side of the ball, Shane Mclanahan was dealing and giving his team a chance to win the game. In the bottom of the third inning, power hitter Nelson Curz hit a solo home run to give the Rays a 3-0 lead. Once again, Shane Mclanahan was dealing and executing pitches when he needed to. In the bottom of the 5th, Randy Arozarena hit a solo home run to make the game 4-0. The Rays decided to take out Mclanahan after a brilliant performance going five innings with three strikeouts and only five hits allowed. No walks either. For the Red Sox not so good. Eduardo Rodriguez couldn’t even make it to 2 innings pitched and gave up two runs, two hits, and two walks and only had one strikeout. Then in the bottom of the 7th inning, Randy Arozarena stole home. He is the only player in MLB history to hit a home run and steal home in the same game. The Rays bullpen held up the next four innings leading to a shutout victory for the Tampa Bay Rays at home. After Tampa’s game one win, they stay in Tampa for game 2 to see if they can go up in the series two games to 0. With the Red Sox trying to tie the series after not scoring a run in game one, they came out swinging, scoring two runs in the top of the 1st inning. A solid base hit by Xander Bogarts scored a run which was then followed by Alex Verdugo, who also singled to score a run. The Rays didn’t give up, and they scored five runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, with Diaz singling to right to score three runs. Soon after, the Red Sox started hitting, scoring six runs in 4 innings to take the lead 8 to 5. The Red Sox had back-to-back home runs in the 3rd inning, then back-to-back home runs in the 5th. The Rays tried to come back with Choi homering to left field in the next inning, but that was not enough. The Red Sox still keep scoring, and they go up 14 to 6 to beat the Rays in game 2. Thanks to the 20 hits the Red Sox had to the eight Rays had, and it wasn’t enough for Tampa on Friday night. The pitcher who took home the win was Tanner Houck for the Boston Red Sox, as the Rays pitcher Collin McHugh took the loss. The series is now tied up at one apiece. The Rays can’t afford to lose both games at Fenway Park, or else they will be eliminated from the Postseason. If the Rays can take one of these two games in Fenway, they will bring the Do or Die game home. The pitching matchup for Game 3 is Drew Rasmussen for the Rays and Nathan Eovaldi for the Red Sox. The Rays started the game off with a bang scoring two runs in the top of the first off of an Austin Meadows two-run homerun. The Red Sox answered with a solo home run by Kyle Shwarber. Drew Rasmussen gave up an RBI single to Kike Hernandez in the bottom of the third inning and another RBI single to Rafael Devers. Rasmussen couldn’t record an out in the third inning, and he ended up going two innings, six hits, three runs allowed, and one strikeout. The Red Sox are now up 3-2. In the bottom of the 5th inning, Kike Hernandez hit a solo home run which cushioned the Red Sox lead to 4-2. Both Bullpens have held up great so far until the Rays top of the 8th inning. Wander Franco hit a solo home run which cut the Red Sox lead to 4-3. Randy Arozarena also hit a double, which scored a run and tied the game up at 4. Neither team scored in the next two innings, and the game went into extra innings. The game was still tied after the 11th inning. Both teams have no pitchers left. Each team has 1 or 2 pitchers left. In the top of the 13th inning, Kevin Kiermaier from the Rays hit a ball off the fence, and then the outfielder accidentally tapped the ball over the fence. They ruled that play a ground-rule double, but if the ball never went over the fence, then the Rays would’ve been up 5-4. It was a very controversial call. The Red Sox caught a break. Later on, in the bottom of the 13th inning, Christian Vazquez from the Red Sox hit a game-winning two-run home run which put Boston into a frenzy. Boston ended up winning the game 6-4 after a dogfight. The Rays now face a win-or-go-home game, and if they win, they have a big advantage at home with their big crowd. Game 4 in Boston was a rough one for Tampa fans. Eduardo Rodriguez was the one to start on the mound for Boston and pitched a great five innings, only letting up one run. Rays fans started to get worried when Rafael Devers hit a three-run home run to make Boston go up in the 3rd inning 3-0. As the bottom of the 3rd inning kept going on, Boston rallied in a solid five runs, with Verdugo doubling to left field, letting Bogaerts score. Then Martinez singled to left center, which scored Verdugo. Soon after, in the top of the 5th inning, the Rays showed they did not want their season to end as Meadows hit a ground ball to score Luplow to put the Rays on the scoreboard. At the top of the 6th, Wander Franco hit a two-run home run to center field in the next inning, scoring 5-3. Rays fans started to get back into the game as they kept holding the Red Sox offense by not letting them score a run. In the top of the 8th inning, Kiermaier doubled to deep right-center, letting Zunino score, making the game 5-4. Then the next at-bat, Arozarena doubled to right-center, and Kiermaier scored, making the Rays tie the game 5-5. Red Sox fans started to get nervous as the Rays rallied back late in this ballgame, but the Red Sox played great defense and held the Rays going into the final inning. The bottom of the last inning was a nightmare for Rays fans as there was a guy at 3rd base with one out. Enrique Hernandez was up to bat for the Red Sox which he has had an excellent postseason already. The pitch was delivered, and Hernandez hit a high flyball to left field, allowing the runner on 3rd to tag up and win the game for the Red Sox 6-5. Since the Red Sox win, they move on to the American League Championship to face the Houston Astros. Sadly for Rays fans, their season is over, but it was a great season for the Rays, beating their all-time wins in a regular season.