Yankees and Red Sox Trail the Rays: Could They Both Miss the Playoffs?

No New York or Boston in the MLB Playoffs? What?

If MLB were to become the equivalent of the movie “The Perfect Storm,” 2008 might be the year that neither the New York Yankees nor the Boston Red Sox make the playoffs.  How could something like this happen?

Not since 1993, when there was no wild card in baseball, has there been a season in which neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox made the playoffs.

Since 1995, both have been in the AL final four seven times. Seven times! That doesn't even count the times that only one of them made it that far.

Even more amazing is the fact that since 1995 there have been 52 AL postseason first round slots available. Between the two teams they've held 20 of those spots. 

On top of that, had the wild card existed in 1993, the Yankees would have gotten it for the AL. 1993 also left both teams at another disadvantage for making the postseason. 

Only two teams from each league made it in, since there weren’t three divisions per league. Toronto and the Chicago White Sox represented the American League. The Phillies and Braves were the National League division winners. Toronto won the World Series.

One could make the argument that it’s been since 1994, because that was the year of the strike and no World Series, but that shouldn’t count. No one made the playoffs.

It’s now almost August, and the Tampa Bay Rays lead the AL Eastern Division. In order for the “Perfect Storm” to happen, Tampa will have to hold on to the division. 

Additionally, someone from the AL Central or the AL West will have to take over the wild card lead currently held by, you guessed it, the Boston Red Sox.

As a matter of fact, two of the top three teams in wild card contention are Boston and the Yankees. Currently, the “Perfect Storm” scenario rests squarely on the shoulders of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Minnesota Twins.

Will 2008 be the year the string of thirteen consecutive trips to the postseason by the Yankees end? Will it also be the year both the Yankees and the Red Sox sit on their couches in September during the first round of the playoffs?

Even more maddening, will it be the year Boston, New York, and Atlanta are out? 

You can pretty much stick a fork in the Braves, but everything else is up for grabs.  Personally, I’m rooting for "The Perfect Storm."