As long as the Magic Number drops!

People are weird sometimes. OK. People are weird all the time. Heck, I'm weird all the time. But, people also are weird.

Take their responses to the American League East race. Yesterday, the division leaders, the Blue Jays, lost. (lowering the Red Sox Magic Number to 27) So too did the Red Sox. Most people seemed to take this as a missed opportunity. But, only by the Red Sox. The comments were that the Sox wasted an opportunity to gain ground by losing to a last place team. What nobody mentioned, though, was that the Blue Jays wasted their chance to pull away on a day when the Red Sox lost to a last place team.

It goes beyond just a single game as well. The Sox have been in a bit of a funk lately. They oddly struggled in their last couple games, the runs just weren't coming. In fact, in their last ten games, they're 5-5. "Bleh" has been the reaction. They'll never make the playoffs with a stretch like that. A team that doesn't grab opportunities can't win a championship. The team they're chasing? How have they performed the last ten games? 6-4. Yup. One more win. So, this super-team that the Red Sox are foolish to think they can compete with has won one more game than the Sox over the last ten?

Why are they a team to beat, and the Sox just pretenders?

Is it possible that winning is just hard? That even good teams lose games sometimes? Even good teams lose game in gut-wrenching fashion? To bad teams? It just happens sometimes. It's not a sign of inconsistency. It's not a sign that they can't cut it. It's a sign that sometimes teams score more than you do.

Because, let's not forget, the Sox are still only a game out of first place. A game behind a team they play six times this month. So, the Sox aren't collapsing from the playoff hunt. They're IN the playoff hunt. In a really good position at that.

As long as that magic number drops every single day, the Sox will be division champs. It doesn't matter if it only drops one instead of two every time. It doesn't even really have to be every single day. 

So, the Sox can get shut out. They can make an error. They can give up a three-run homer. It doesn't mean they're breaking our hearts. It doesn't mean they can't cut it. It's not a punch to the gut. (Ok, maybe it's that) It's not the end of the world. It just means that teams lose games sometimes. All teams do.

Just like the Jays did yesterday,