The Rays have obviously made things much more difficult for themselves, losing three straight to the O's and dropping a season-high 4 games out  of a postseason berth. And not only are they 4 behind the Orioles and Yankees, who share the AL East lead, but they have dropped behind the Angels in the wild-card standings.

The good news, if there is any for the Rays right now, is that while they can make up some ground while playing the Yankees this weekend, both the Orioles and wild-card leading A's are in tough stretches of their schedule. They play each other in a 3-game series starting tonight in Oakland, and then the O's continue a 10-day cross country trip playing in Seattle and then Boston. The A's, meanwhile, head out after hosting the O's and then go to Detroit, New York and Texas, a 10-game gauntlet that could certainly define their chances of hanging on.

Here are the standings as of this morning:

AL EAST
Orioles     81-62   -
Yankees   81-61   -
RAYS         77-66  4

WILD CARD
A's                      82-61  + 1
Orioles/Yanks     81-61   -
Angels                78-66   3 1/2
RAYS                   77-66     4

ODDS ON: What do the coolstandings.com computer-projected playoff chances look like this morning:

Rangers     98.7
A's             89.7
Yankees 86.3
Orioles        72
White Sox    61.3
Tigers          41.3
RAYS             26.9
Angels           23.7