Mussina’s overall season has gone far better — 13-8, 4.41. But pitching with an inflamed elbow, he was 2-2 with a 6.68 ERA in six August starts before being shut down for three weeks. In back-to-back starts against Baltimore since his return, he pitched six sparkling innings on Sept. 22, only to be unable to get out of the second inning five days later, when he allowed five runs and seven hits.

While the Yankees definitely have the late-inning bullpen edge, remember that while Mariano Rivera is invincible against the rest of the league, he has converted only 15 of his last 22 save opportunities against the Red Sox.

Indians-White Sox: The Indians just may have saved their chances by finally finding a way to stop the bedevilment of Tampa Bay with an impressive 6-0 shutout on Thursday. The Devil Rays put together consecutive wins at Jacobs Field the previous two nights before Indians ace C.C. Sabathia won for the ninth time in 11 starts with the help of a four-run first inning.

While the White Sox have clinched the AL Central by virtue of an 11-5 season-series over the Tribe, they will need at least one victory to lock up home-field advantage through the American League Championship Series. So while each regular could get a day off over the weekend, the Sox won’t be mailing it in, and Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland will be going in the first two games.

Slide show: The Week in Sports Pictures   Oct. 3 - 9 Images from the baseball playoffs, NFL, college football, and more.

That said, there is an inevitable letdown after clinching a division, and when asked what the series in Cleveland means, Buehrle’s response was, ‘nothing’. You can rest assured the Indians don’t feel that way, and they will be throwing AL ERA leader Kevin Millwood and Jake Westbrook in the first two games.

But if the Indians’ wild card chances come down to Sunday, they will have to rely on No. 5 starter Scott Elarton. While Elarton pitched very well down the stretch before getting hit hard by Tampa Bay in a Tuesday loss, he is the weakest member of manager Eric Wedge’s rotation. The Sox are scheduled to throw talented rookie Brandon McCarthy, who has made a couple of excellent starts down the stretch.

In case a Monday playoff game is needed to break a tie, the rotation turns fall on Shawn Chacon for the Yankees, Bronson Arroyo for the Red Sox and Cliff Lee for the Indians. There is no better measure of the closeness of both races than this simple fact: If the Red Sox take two of three from the Yankees, and the Indians take two of three from the White Sox — two very reasonable possibilities — all three teams would finish 95-67.

Then it would take not one, but two play-in games to set the AL playoff field: Boston at New York on Monday to determine the AL East champ, with the loser playing Cleveland on Tuesday for the wild card. Great possibilities all.

Q: I am trying to figure out the playoff schedule. I know there is a way to calculate which team plays on which day. Can you help?
— Lucy, Queens, N.Y.

A: The tightness of the races sure isn’t making it easy, Lucy. But the division series schedule reads as follows: In the National League it appears as I write that the Houston Astros will be the wild card. Since a wild card can’t play the winner of its division in the first round, that means the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals — the team with the best record in the league — will play the worst of the two other division champions, the San Diego Padres.

That series will start Tuesday, Oct. 4 and continue Oct. 6, Oct. 8, Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 if necessary. That leaves the Astros matched up with the NL East champion Atlanta Braves. That series will begin Wednesday, Oct. 5 and continue Oct. 6, Oct. 8, Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 if necessary. No matter how the amazingly tight American League races turn out, both division series will begin Tuesday Oct. 4 and stay on the same schedule — Oct. 5, Oct. 7, Oct. 8 and Oct. 9 if necessary. If there is a regular-season tie-breaker game, it will be played Monday, Oct. 3.

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