Not only did the Rays lose to the Orioles 9-2 on Tuesday and look bad in doing so, they continue to lose ground and days on the schedule.

With Oakland beating the Angels late Tuesday, the Rays are essentially on equal footing in the race for the AL East title and the second wild-card. And both are shaping us as three-team races, though with the Tigers - who have a very easy finishing schedule - looming

In the AL East, it looks like this:

Orioles      79-62   -
Yankees    79-62   -
RAYS          77-64   2

And with Oakland holding the first wild card, that race looks like this:

A's                81-60   + 2
O's               79-62    -
Yankees       79-62    -
RAYS             77-64    2
Angels          77-65    2 1/2
Tigers           74-67     5

TODAY'S ACTION: The Rays continue their series with the O's, the Yankees are in Boston, the A's in Los Angeles and the Tigers in Chicago.

ODDS ARE: How did Tuesday's action impact coolstandings.com's playoff projections? Pretty dramatically as the O's moved ahead of the Rays. Here are the current chances to make the playoffs, based on their simulations of playing the season out 1-million times:

Rangers     99.1
A's              90
Yankees     77.5
White Sox  72.5
Orioles       54.2
RAYS          50.4
Tigers         30.2
Angels        26.1