Sox fans: Are you ready for some football? And so it comes to this: After all of the off-season moves, six weeks of spring training and more than five months of regular season baseball amounting to more than 130 games played, it's stretch drive time for Major League Baseball teams. We'll find out this month who's going to the postseason. And we'll see which teams will fall short. For instance, the Boston Red Sox. I'm sad to say that the Sox season is over. It ended in that stupid dome in Tampa this past weekend. In front of dozens of loyal, bell-ringing super fans, the Rays took two out of three from the Sox, leaving Boston six and a half games out of a playoff spot. It's a hole you need an elevator to get out of, and unfortunately this team only has a stepladder - with many steps missing. The Red Sox injury problems have been well-documented. Sox Manager Terry Francona has used 48 different players this year. No team in the Majors has used more people. The Sox are without Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury and Cameron. Boston has one shaky bullpen. Several guys on the Sox roster were unheard of to fans coming into the season. All in all, the baseball gods have not smiled on this team this year. Heck, the Sox were almost out of it before Memorial Day. A diesel engine on a negative 30-degree day can start faster than the Sox did this year. They had a below .500 record at the end of April. They were facing a double-digit deficit in the standings heading into late May, which was basically through one-third of the season. But this team has guts and character and they clawed back into contention. Boston has been hanging around like a mosquito, annoying Tampa and New York. But at the end of the day, the Sox, like a mosquito, won't be around in October, although not for lack of effort. Terry Francona could be manager of the year in the American League. His team isn't going to the playoffs. Yet as of this writing, the Sox would be leading or within a game of every other division in baseball. They would have a one game lead for the NL wildcard over Philadelphia. But this is the AL East. The Rays and Yankees have the best records in baseball. It's hard to chase one good team. Looking up at the two best is a nightmare. The Yankees have looked vulnerable lately and have a fairly tough remaining schedule. But the Rays have a minor league schedule the rest of the way. They'll win half of those games without showing up. That could mean Tampa wins the division for the second time in three years. If they had any fans, those fans would celebrate like crazy. "Wait a minute!" you say. "Our Red Sox can make this up. It's only a game a week." But of course the Sox have been about 5 or 6 games out now for three months, and haven't made up any ground yet. It's just so unlikely they can do it in the final month with this depleted roster, in this brutal division. Red Sox ownership didn't have high hopes for the team going into the season. They knew they could compete, but also knew it would be hard to win the division. Theo and the boys have made no moves during the season, leaving all minor league players filling the holes. They're planning for the future. And so should you. Go ahead and pull for the Sox this month. I would never stop cheering for my team, and I won't suggest you do either. But in the end it will be odd not having the Sox in the postseason. It's only the second time in the last eight seasons. The last time was 2006. And remember what happened in 2007? Let's hope for the same results in 2011. And pray that the Yankees don't win it this year.