Tony Massoratti pens a poor column this year on how the Yankees/Red Sox series matters more this year because of the wild card race:

They play 19 games a year, every year, and we treat each unfolding drama as if it were the work of William Shakespeare. Then the dust settles and the air clears, and in the aftermath, we come to a stunning conclusion. It was much ado about nothing. Now the New York Yankees are here again, for five games in 75 hours on four late-summer days, and a funny thing has happened on the way to October: The games actually mean something this time. The Red Sox are two out in the loss column with 43 games to play, and for the first time in a long time, the boys appear to be operating without a net.

There is no wild card to fall back on, it seems.

Does he forget that last season, Cleveland was in the race until the end? Even with Cleveland self-destructing in the last week, the two teams went into the final weekend with the possibility of not making the playoffs. For that matter, if either team managed to win 13 games in the head-to-head race, the other doesn't make the post season. So yes, the games matter, just as they've mattered for the last three years.