Last Chance for A's

Boston's magic number is 2 - any combination of 2 wins by the Sox or 2 losses by the A's gives the Sox home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Oakland plays their final series in Seattle where the A's are just 6-10 so far this year. Similarly, the Red Sox go to hostile territory in Baltimore where they are just 7-9 against the O's. In addition, Oakland has only a 1 game advantage over Detroit to see which team would have home field advantage in an A's-Tigers opening round series. Taking nothing for granted, the Sox are sending their top 3 hurlers in this series -- Clay Buccholz tonight, John Lackey on Saturday & Jon Lester on Sunday. For both teams it comes down to this weekend. Same for the wild card race between Tampa, Cleveland & Texas. Enjoy games 160, 161 & 162!