Seven-game season

Wow. Both the Sox and the Yanks have to be feeling pretty good about their wins today. So we're down to the last week of the season. And, since the season ends with a Showcase Showdown between the Yanks and the Sox, the number of possibilities for how it ends up in the East is getting pretty small. Let's assume for the moment that the Wild Card comes out of the AL Central. Here are the possible scenarios for the next four-game series, and what they mean for the final series, and the division:

• Each team wins the same number of games: the final series determines the East, in a best-of-3 contest. Basically, the playoffs begin early.
• One team wins 1 more game than the other: one team enters the final series 1 game back; so to make the playoffs, they must either sweep the final series, or take 2 of 3 and then win the one-game playoff.
• One team wins 2 more games than the other: the losing team is back by 2, so must sweep the final series to win the division. Two out of three won't do it.
  
• One team wins 3 more games than the other: the losing team is back by 3, so must sweep the final series, and then win the one-game playoff. Basically, it must win four games in a row. Tough, but it's been known to happen...
  
• One team sweeps, the other is swept. Season over -- the final series doesn't matter.

In other words: (1) barring a massive collapse by either team in their next series, the final Sox-Yanks series will decide the AL East, and (2) falling even one game behind in the next 4 days will put either team in a huge hole going into that final series. Scary.