There’s no doubt that the last month of the American League (AL) playoff race was an active one, especially for the Boston Red Sox, who just completed a vital series against the Detroit Tigers. First-year Hayden Pond expressed his thoughts on the team going into the postseason.
“I think we’re in a really good spot; once we make that final push to the playoffs, which we will, we’ll hopefully get Roman Anthony back in the lineup. He’s a great leadoff bat. And then the rookie starting pitcher Connelly Early coming in and filling that four or five spot in our starting rotation makes us a stronger team,” said Pond.
The Red Sox ended up clinching a wild-card spot on Friday night after an electric walk-off triple from the second-year center fielder, Ceddanne Rafaela.
The AL is truly wide open with only seven games separating the 1 seed Toronto Blue Jays and 6 seed Detroit Tigers.
The Blue Jays and New York Yankees were battling it out for the AL East’s top spot as the Bronx Bombers had themselves a late-season surge to push for the division. The Blue Jays ultimately ended up clinching the division after their 13-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
As for the AL West, the Seattle Mariners began the slow pull away from the Houston Astros over the course of the month of September, finishing the Month with a 17-8 record and earning themselves the second seed in the AL. As for the Houston Astros, it was a struggle to find true consistency after a 19-7 month of June. They finished the final three months of the season with a 37-41 record. Injuries definitely did not help the Astros as Superstar designated hitter Yordan Alvarez was sidelined for a lot of the 2025 season with a right-hand fracture and a left ankle sprain.
“The Tigers, Astros and Red Sox are all in an extremely close race leading up to this weekend,” said first-year Landon Sargent. “The Tigers were struggling in their last 10 before this series against the Red Sox with a 1-9 record, but if I had to pick, I would say the Tigers and Red Sox get in over the Astros.”
Sargent was ultimately correct, as it came down to the final two days to determine who officially clinched.
The AL Central came down to the final day of the regular season as the Cleveland Guardians clinched the division on Sunday after the Red Sox defeated Detroit. The Tigers once led the division by 14 games in late July and the Guardians got hot at the right time toward the end of the season and slowly closed the gap. Leading up to the Red Sox series, the Tigers were 1-9 in their last 10 games and 7-17 overall in the month of September. Detroit will now face off against the Guardians in the Wild-Card round at Progressive Field in Cleveland after blowing the division.
“I think the Guardians beat the Tigers out of the division. I don’t think the Astros will make it,” said first-year Blake Shollenberger.
Shollenberger would also go on to be correct as Houston was eliminated Saturday night after Detroit’s win in Boston.
The bracket is now set in the American League with the three seed Guardians taking on the six seed Tigers Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. Eastern time. The projected starters are Tigers superstar Tarik Skubal and Guardian Gavin Williams, who has just a 2.18 ERA in his last 12 starts. The 4 seed Yankees will host the 5 seed Red Sox later on at 6 p.m. in the Bronx with Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet and Yankees all-star Max Fried on the bump.
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