If the Red Sox keep playing like this, though, it threatens to be an awfully short October — assuming they qualify. The Sox dropped another stunner, 4-3, in 11 innings to the Orioles, after leaving the bases loaded in the eighth, ninth, and 10th innings.

The Red Sox and the Yankees begin an important series against one another Thursday in New York. Both teams are five games back of the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East standings, but the series is a chance for either team to make some headway between second and third place.