Tight Race in AL East has Yankees leading Boston by 2.5

May 7, 2025 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

Don't look now, but the AL East has a classic battle going on with the New York Yankees (20-16) leading the Boston Red Sox (18-19) by 2.5 games going into Wednesday night's action with the Bronx Bombers hosting the San Diego Padres in the deciding game of a crossover series (7:05 p.m. ET). San Diego took the first 4-3 on Monday, but was shellacked 12-3 last night as the Pinstripers put a 10-spot on the board in the 7th after entering the inning in a 3-2 deficit.

A large part of the barrage was courtesy of Austin Wells who batted twice in the inning. His first plate appearance produced an RBI single to tie the game at 3, but the Yankees went through then order and sent 13 batters to the plate. So when Wells got up the second time with his team in front 8-3, he found the basis loaded and quickly cleaned them with his first career grand slam to finish the rout.

The Yankees were in need of the victory after dropping three straight. Losses at home on Saturday and Sunday to the Rays at home had begun the losing skid.

Now, it's up to Boston to stay in the race after failing to take advantage of the opportunity that was afforded them by the Yankees. Boston has dropped three straight at home. After dropping the last two in the weekend series to the Minnesota Twins, the Sox fell 6-1 to the Rangers in their opening game of the midweek series. The game started after a 31-minute rain delay, and the wet conditions affected both teams' starting pitchers as each threw a wild pitch in the first and Giolito slipped again just warming up between innings. Additionally, Carlos Narvaez had the bat fly from his hands and into the stands. The game was busted open by Texas when Lucas Giolito allowed five runs in the fourth to end his day.

The Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays are tied for third with 16-19 records, while the Orioles have slid from their second-place finish of a year ago (91-71) to a 13-21 start that includes a 1-3 record in May. Despite the success of a year ago, Baltimore was swept out of the playoffs (2-0) by Kansas City to extend a franchise record postseason losing streak to 10 games. The last playoff win for the Orioles came in Game 3 of the 2014 ALDS against Detroit.

Baltimore is hosting Minnesota tonight for game 2 of the series after suffering a 9-1 defeat last night.

No team in the AL East has been lighting up the joint in past couple of weeks with everyone in the division doing no better than 5-5 (Yankees, Rays) in their last ten, and the five teams are a cumulative 21-29. The Red Sox and Blue Jays are each 4-6 in that stretch while the Orioles are 3-7 and 1.5 run underdogs tonight. The Yankees are the only team in the division above breaking even.

Tampa Bay, which is 9-14 at their temporary new home and 9-7 on the road, is hosting the Phillies for game 2 after an 8-4 loss last night. The Rays have series wins over the Diamondbacks (2-1), Padres (3-0), and Yankees (2-1) with an 0-3 series loss to the Royals.

The Blue Jays are out west against the Los Angeles Angels where they were 8-3 losers last night after dropping the last two to the Guardians to fall two games to one in that series.