Secret to the Yankees' last ditch hopes? The Rays, Redsocks and Royals

 

Over the millenniums, I've generally hated ESPN games. 

They rattle me. 

It's their self-congratulatory, "Oh-Did-I- win-another-Peabody?" announcers, who claimed to speak for the Heartland, even as they carried water for poor-mouthing billionaire owners. Whenever the ills of The Game were discussed, there was one bogey-man: The awful Yankees, who were buying pennants. You heard it from Cowboy Curt Gowdy, from Joe Garagiola, from the ultimate critic, Peter Gammons. Later, Aaron Boone became an ESPN talker. A-Rod. Big Pappi. Youkilis. Pedro. The unwritten rule, "If the Yankees win, they bought it." You'd think the Ilitch family (Tigers) or Rogers Communications (Jays) were funding their teams through bake sales.

Maybe, they're improved. (David Cone.) Dunno. Maybe, tonight, we'll see. 

Tonight, the Yankees go into the black hole of Calcutta Fenway on ESPN, having won three straight without gaining a quark on Toronto. It's not a "must" win. Barring a meltdown, we will reach the postseason, (as Eduardo Perez will surely remind us, due to the big payroll, below only the Dodgers and Mets.)  

If we lose, so ends the race in the AL East. Though we're down by three in the loss column, we're actually four behind Toronto, because the Jays handled us all season and own the tiebreaker.  

If the Yankees sweep, they bury Boston and maybe cut another game from Toronto. That would leave them with one advantage: A cupcake schedule through the final two weeks, while Toronto faces a grinder. 

We play 13 games against Minnesota, Baltimore and the White Sox - hateful, pennant race malcontents who disappointed their fans and would kill a puppy to beat us. Still, (and there's no nice way to put this), they suck. If we can't win 9 of 13, we don't deserve to win a division. 

But even if we go 9-4, we'd still need Toronto to lose 8 out of 13.   

And if you're talking about hatefulness, think: Tampa. Toronto plays seven games against the Rays. Close your eyes. You can imagine them losing four. Then it's Boston for three. (Go 1-2?) And three against KC, who remain alive in the wild card race. It's almost impossible to make up four games in two weeks. But three - by winning tonight? - that's doable.  

So, tonight, it starts or ends. A Yankee sweep wouldn't be historic - no Boston Massacre II - (we'll probably play them two weeks from now.) But if we lose another game, the  AL East race is almost surely over. And it'll happen on ESPN.