It's not just getting into the playoffs. It's also the first regular-season Yankees Elimination Day since 1993.

Winning the division now would require the Sox to win all five remaining games while the Rays go 1-4 or 0-5. This is not a realistic thing to expect. The Sox will very likely be eliminated from the division title before the Indians series is finished. It will feel very strange to have a totally meaningless Yankees-Sox series to end the season.

I'm always glad to see Wake get another shot at playoff success. He's one of the truly nice guys in sport.

This story may have seen the light here before, but it's worth repeating:

Once, a couple of years back, Wake and a few of his teammates went to visit some cancer-stricken children at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the home of The Jimmy Fund. Now, all of them were nice guys to go and visit sick children. However, there was one child who was receiving treatment during their visit and who didn't get to meet the Red Sox players. While his teammates all left after the appointed time, Wakefield stayed at the hospital for an additional 3 or 4 hours, until that one child came out of treatment.

In a game that sometimes seems to be overpopulated by bratty little kids in adult bodies, Wake is a real MAN.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com