The Yankees’ pursuit of the American League East title officially ended late Saturday afternoon when the Boston Red Sox completed a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros for their 93rd win of the season, a mark the Yankees cannot match. Unofficially, the chase ended about an hour earlier, when the Red Sox opened a 5-0 lead, rendering the Yankees’ 2-0 lead over the Toronto Blue Jays essentially meaningless.

But up to that point, as such races go, you could not get much tighter than the one that was played out in real time between the Yankees and the Red Sox, about 200 miles apart.

For the first three innings, the two games mirrored each other. When the Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth, the Red Sox matched it in minutes.

In the end, the math did not work out for the Yankees, either on the scoreboard or in the standings. They held on to beat Toronto, 2-1, but had to settle for the wild-card playoff spot they clinched last weekend.