Red Sox eliminated from postseason for third consecutive year: “We messed it up”

TORONTO – The inevitable became reality in Toronto on Wednesday night.

With Kansas City winning earlier in the day, the Boston Red Sox needed a win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Instead, they lost 6-1 to the Blue Jays in the 159th game, and with that loss, the Red Sox were eliminated from the race for the postseason.

“At one point it felt like we were a team with playoff qualities, but then we missed the opportunity, let's put it that way,” manager Alex Cora said. “You look around, you look at the teams that are struggling, we had it right and we blew it.”

With a doubleheader sweep on Sunday and wins in the first two games in Toronto, the Red Sox had snapped their longest winning streak since early July, and they did so without Rafael Devers and Kenley Jansen. While Kansas City and Minnesota battled for wins in a tumultuous wild-card race, the Red Sox had plenty of chances to take control despite their subpar performance in September.

Instead, they slacked off in the home stretch. The Red Sox entered the All-Star break 53-43 and 11 games over .500. Their loss on Wednesday dropped them to 27-36 in the second half.

Cora lamented their inability to capitalize on an open wildcard race.

“Look at what the Tigers did,” he said. “They took advantage of their opportunity. They played good baseball and pitched to the end. And then they recovered a little bit and are swinging the bat well. In this game, you have to take advantage of your opportunities and play consistently.”

“We'll talk about it next week (when the season is over), but I think since the All-Star break we've been very inconsistent. When we were scoring, we weren't throwing. When we were throwing, we weren't scoring. I think the defense got better when Trevor (Story) came back. It wasn't a fluke that we started throwing better. But overall, we never got it going since (the series in) Los Angeles.”

Previously, baseball chief Craig Breslow had already expressed his frustration in a similar tone over the failed attempt to end the postseason drought that has now lasted three seasons.

“I think we're playing these games to make the postseason and win the World Series,” Breslow said. “And if we don't do that, that would be a disappointment. I want it to be a disappointment. I want it to hurt.”

The clubhouse was quiet as players packed their bags for the flight home, but Jarren Duran struck an optimistic tone, noting that there had been no belief in the club all year.

“I'm proud of what this club has done and what we've achieved,” he said. “I think this is a good building block for next year.”

There will be plenty of time in the next few weeks to revisit what went wrong and why, but the Red Sox still have three games left against the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend.

On Friday, the Red Sox will – perhaps fittingly – honor their minor league players of the year in an on-field ceremony and once again look to the future.

(Photo by Wilyer Abreu: Cole Burston/Getty Images)