An interesting wrinkle in Sox-Yanks AL East race

Thanks to the second Wild Card, there’s no doubt that both the Red Sox and Yankees want very badly to win the division. That’s the only way to avoid a one-game, season-on-the-line test in the Wild Card round — a test in which either team would almost certainly throw its ace, reducing its chances in the American League Division Series round. But they might — emphasize might — not want to win that prize by too much if they had their druthers. A one-game margin, and second overall in the AL, might be just fine.