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The Red Sox could get themselves into a tie for third place Tuesday night with a win over the Rays and a little help from the Nationals.
| TAMPA BAY RAYS | BOSTON RED SOX |
|---|---|
| Brandon Guyer - LF | Mookie Betts - RF |
| Mikie Mahtook - CF | Josh Rutledge - 2B |
| Evan Longoria - 3B | Xander Bogaerts - SS |
| Logan Forsythe - 2B | David Ortiz - DH |
| Asdrubal Cabrera - SS | Travis Shaw - 1B |
| Steven Souza - RF | Rusney Castillo - LF |
| James Loney - 1B | Blake Swihart - C |
| Richie Shaffer - DH | Deven Marrero - 3B |
| Luke Maile - C | Jackie Bradley - CF |
| Matt Moore - LHP | Henry Owens - LHP |
Certainly third place in the AL East isn't the most treasured of prizes, particularly when the division is so clearly a two-team race (the Red Sox have, in fact, officially been eliminated from contention as of a couple days ago). But small victories are small victories, and the Red Sox have few enough that they'll treasure those they can get.
Not for nothing, but a win today would also make it five series wins in six tries. The only other time the Red Sox managed that was back at the end of June and beginning of July, when it briefly looked like they might be able to make one last push for contention. Y'know, before that 0-7 start to the second half. Hopefully if they pull it off this time, instead of crashing their way into the offseason, they'll actually keep on building on it and maybe even make a run at .500.
It's nice to have dreams.
First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. on NESN and WEEI.
Editor's Note: SB Nation's partner FanDuel is running a $1,500,000 fantasy football league for Week 3. It's $5 to enter and first place wins $100,000. Click here to join.