By: Jess Lander, YawkeyTalkies Editor

The Wildcard has been around for 15 years. Red Sox have gotten the Wildcard more than any other club: seven times. Historically, the Wildcard isn’t a bad position for the Sox to be in. You’ll notice that the Sox have a pretty good record against the Angels in postseason, but until 2004, struggled with the Yankees, who will be our probable opponents in the ALCS.

A Red Sox Wild Card Timeline:

1998: Knocked out in ALDS to Cleveland in 4 games.

1999: Beat the Indians this time in the ALDS and advanced to ALCS against the Yankees, where they only won one game of the series.

2003: Flew past Oakland in the ALDS and again met the Yankees in the ALCS. This time they put up much more of a fight, falling to the pin stripes in a devastating game seven.

2004: Sox sweep the Angles of Anaheim and AGAIN went on to meet the Yankees. But things were different this time. After being down three games, the Sox came back to win the ALCS and then went on to win their first World Series Championship in 86 years against the Cardinals with a sweep.

2005: Lost in the ALDS to Chicago.

2008: Sox beat Angels again in ALDS and fell to Tampa Bay in the ALCS, one game short of going to the World Series.

2009: Meeting the Angels (again) in the ALDS.

What this means:

History tells us that the Sox ALWAYS beat the Angels in the ALDS. So no worries there. It is very likely that the Sox would then go on to face New York, a much more difficult task. The Yanks have knocked the Sox out of the ALCS two out of three times they’ve met when the Sox had the Wildcard. However, the last time they met in the ALCS, the Sox came out on top. The Sox only won 1 of the last 10 games against the Yankees this season, but everyone knows the October is a whole other ballgame.

Popularity: 1% [?]