There's one insane way Yankees could face Guardians over Red Sox in Wild Card Series

After Carlos Rodón took care of the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday afternoon, I tweeted that the Yankees had locked in homefield in the Wild Card Series and, with it, guaranteed they would not go to Fenway Park this postseason. I spoke slightly too soon.

The Yankees are officially cemented as the AL's No. 4 seed; that won't change, after the Rays took care of business in the nightcap and ended any faint AL East title hopes. But while the Boston Red Sox remain overwhelmingly likely to be headed to Yankee Stadium next week, their struggles down the stretch have opened a very strange door. Given the respective schedules of the Red Sox, White Sox, and Guardians, you can almost see a world where Boston has to head to the other side of the bracket instead.

We're not telling you what and what not to root for, but it's always fun to see Boston lose and struggle to harness their momentum ahead of an October run. If the Guardians handle business at Fenway, then struggle against a Royals team that wants to play spoiler, all the White Sox have to do is take care of KC and the Rockies. The Red Sox's sloppy final series with the Cubs, that may end up rescheduled and weather-addled, could factor into this calculus, too.

Red Sox could sneak into an easier path and avoid the Yankees until theoretical ALCS

Of course, don't get too excited; if this were to happen, the Red Sox would face borderline-.500 teams in the Astros/Rangers to kick off their playoff run, followed by a tilt with the AL Central winner. They'd have an easier shot at the ALCS that way, avoiding the Yankees/Rays until the best-of-seven. That may actually be what they'd want.

All of this to say: What happened to the beautiful world we used to live in in the 1990s/2000s where there was only one Wild Card and division rivals couldn't face each other before the ALCS? We should be sitting back with a bowl of popcorn laughing at the Red Sox falling short after their summer surge and gearing up for a Yankees-Guardians ALDS. Instead, MLB decided to embrace the NFL model and let sub-.500 loser teams into the big dance. Shame.

The Yankees' final five games are now officially meaningless, unless you like watching exhibition baseball and crossing your fingers that nobody slips on wet grass. While unlikely, this potential seeding swap at least gives us something to watch for (other than some Pete Alonso porch jobs and a Josh Hart bobblehead during the final weekend).

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