Can the New York Yankees still win the AL East?

After the four-game weekend series sweep by the Boston Red Sox, many people think that the race for the American League East division is over now. The Red Sox are up 9.5 games on their rivals from New York; to compound that, the Sox are the best team in the MLB enjoying one of the best seasons in franchise history.

Even if the lead seems insurmountable at this time of the season, I don't think the race is over yet. After all, there are quite a few games left before the end of the calendar, and the two teams still have to face each other six more times until October - including the last three games of the regular season at Fenway Park.

The Yankees will not have any choice other than winning those six upcoming games against the Red Sox if they want to have a slight chance of coming back in the race for the division crown. They will also need some extra help from the other teams who will be playing against Boston until the end.

The main problem for the Yankees is that the lead is so big now, that the margin of error is almost non-existent. The Bronx Bombers need to go on a winning streak and hope the opposite for the Red Sox - a long losing streak.

That is very improbable and this point and even if the Red Sox are only playing for .500 until the end of the season and the Yankees for more than this, Boston would still finish first.

The good news for the Yankees is that the Red Sox have a lot of players on the disabled list right now. Many good players including their new second base addition Ian Kinsler, their ace pitcher Chris Sale, and their young third baseman Rafael Devers are not able to play, and we don't know when they will be back healthy.

The depth of the Red Sox will surely be tested in the coming weeks and this could help the Yankees a lot. However, the Red Sox are not showing any signs of slowing down so far and New York have also been hit by injuries recently. Their two all-star players Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez are on the DL list, but they should come back soon enough to help the team make a push.

Winning the division, is of course, really important because the team that finishes first won't need to play in the always-unpredictable wild-card game. The Yankees are the favorites at this point to host that game on October 3 at Yankee Stadium. However, the lead of the team in the American League Wild Card standing is currently slim.

The Yankees are only 2.5 games ahead of the surprising Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners. If the Yankees are not playing better soon, they could still miss the post-season, an idea that was unthinkable a couple of weeks ago.

For the Boston Red Sox, they just need to continue doing what they have done since April, which is winning baseball games. If they do, they will win the American League East division for the third consecutive year and will be headed into the post-season as the favorite to win it all in October.

What do you think? Can the Yankees come back and still finish first, or is the race already over? Let us know in the comments.