Red Sox relief pitcher Adam Ottavino isn’t the only one who can’t bear to watch Boston’s recent swoon. The Sox have lost nine of 11 games and fallen from first place to the American League wild card hunt. Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP

Welcome to the American League wild-card race.

After their most dismal week of the season, the Boston Red Sox have to accept the reality that it will be extraordinarily difficult to win the American League East title, and that the road to October will almost certainly go through one of the league’s two wild-card spots.

The bad news is that the Red Sox have lost nine of their last 11 games, a stunning stumble that has seen them fall from 2-1/2 games up to four games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the battle for first place in the AL East. It’s a collapse that coincides with the July 30 trade deadline that saw the Rays, Yankees and Blue Jays add significant talent that has helped each of those teams over the past week and a half. Not only have the Red Sox fallen off the pace in the East, but they have seen New York and Toronto close within one game in the loss column.

These are by far the darkest times Alex Cora has seen since he returned to manage this team. It had been a magical four months of baseball up to now, but the magic seems to be wearing off with two months remaining in the season.

As bad as things are, all is not lost. The Red Sox are tied for the wild-card lead as they take the field Tuesday to open a three-game series with the Rays. Cora needs to somehow convince his team to regain its swagger and play like a team that has held a playoff position since it stormed its way to a nine-game winning streak in early April.

The wild-card race is shaping up to be a battle between four teams. We know all about the Blue Jays after watching them take three of four from Boston before the rejuvenated fans at home in Canada. The Jays have hit more homers than any team in baseball and added a quality starter in José Berríos at the deadline.

I’ve been saying for weeks that the Jays are the team to watch in the AL. They’re back in Toronto for the first time since 2019 and have won nine of 11 games since returning to Canada. If their bullpen can hold they will be a tough team to beat.

The Yankees have also been on a roll. But the 2021 season has been filled with peaks and valleys for Aaron Boone’s team. They’ve been dealing with COVID-19 cases for months, and found out over the weekend that Anthony Rizzo – hitting .281 with three home runs and six RBI in nine games since the Yankees acquired him at the deadline – tested positive.

The moves to add Rizzo and slugger Joey Gallo should have the Yankees rejoicing, but not everyone is. This weekend Luke Voit, one of the unexpected stars of the 2020 playoff team, expressed frustration that the Yankees went out and added a first basemen that would move ahead of him on the depth chart.

Meanwhile, Gleyber Torres is dealing with a thumb injury and the Yankees somehow have the fourth-lowest slugging percentage in the league.

And then there are the A’s, who won the AL West a year ago. Like the Red Sox, Oakland entered the year with few expectations after losing players like Marcus Semien and Robbie Grossman in the offseason. Yet here they are, tied with the Sox and just two games back of Houston in the division.

On Friday the A’s learned that Ramón Laureano had been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. He’s been Oakland’s starting center fielder all year, with a slash line of .246/.317/.443, and will be sorely missed.

Oakland has gotten this far on the strength of its pitching staff, but faces a daunting final two months with seven games against the juggernaut White Sox, six against the Astros, plus series with the Yankees and Giants.

That’s four teams battling for two wild-card spots. Most, if not all, have faults they must overcome in these final eight weeks. In that they are no different than the Red Sox. Scoreboard-watching season is here. The two teams that do the best job of overcoming their issues will meet in the wild-card game in October.

Right now, any October baseball sounds pretty good to Red Sox fans.

Tom Caron is a studio host for Red Sox broadcasts on NESN. His column runs on Tuesdays in the Portland Press Herald.