Both teams still have business to finish before they get here. Seattle closes out its set in Toronto and Boston wraps up with the Yankees, and then these two open a series against each other with two games in the books before this one tips off as the finale.
Seattle's season has had a real ceiling to it — a stretch where the Mariners went 4-2 on a homestand against two good National League clubs, and an 8-7 mark over their last 15 against tough competition, per Athlon Sports. But road trips have been the problem: Seattle has dropped 6 of its last 7 against AL East opponents and carries a 27-41 mark away from T-Mobile Park, and at 64-72 the postseason math simply isn't there anymore.
Boston's story is the stranger one. Alex Cora and most of his staff were fired mid-season, Chad Tracy came up from Triple-A Worcester to take over, and the Red Sox have played .589 ball under him — good enough to plant Boston firmly in the AL wild-card picture and to put Tracy in the AL Manager of the Year conversation, per multiple Boston beat reporters. A 74-62 club with a shot at October and a fading 64-72 club with nothing left to play for but pride makes for a lopsided-on-paper series, even before the lineups are finalized.