Tampa Bay Rays Closer to Playoffs as Boston Red Sox Continue Epic Collapse

The Boston Red Sox don’t want to make the playoffs. At least, that’s the way they are playing. With their 6-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles they have allowed the Tampa Bay Rays to pull even with them for the lead in the American League Wild Card race.

To the Rays' credit, they did some heavy lifting of their own by defeating the New York Yankees 5-2 Monday night to pull even with the Red Sox. The win marked the 28th consecutive game the Rays have won when they scored five runs or more.

This year’s team might be missing the names of Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, and Carlos Pena but it isn’t missing the desire to hustle and win.

Desmond Jennings’ spectacular diving catch in left field robbing Derek Jeter of a hit was another incredible defensive play that has kept this team in contention even through all of the hitting struggles they have had all season.

Although many in the sports world both locally and nationally gave up on the Rays a long time ago, they never gave up on themselves. Since the team was nine games out of the postseason, they have put together a 15-8 record.

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“The good thing is we don’t see ourselves a lot on SportsCenter,” Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said following Monday night’s game. “We don’t see where we are or how close or how far back we are. It’s good to sneak up on them and sneak up on ourselves.”

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There is no more sneaking up on anyone for the Rays. With two games remaining in the season they have essentially two game seven’s to win to make their third trip to the postseason in four years.

Jamal Wilburg is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes obtained first hand.

Follow his thoughts, insights, and ramblings on Twitter @JWilburg