Other professional baseball teams also play professional baseball.

"Three hours before first pitch in the Bronx on Sunday night, the Orioles were celebrating a 12-inning walk-off win in a game against the Blue Jays they had tied in the bottom of the ninth with a home run by Wellington Castillo.

Yes, just in case you're thinking only about trying to catch the Red Sox, it should be noted: the Orioles are smoking hot, 9-2 in their last 11 games and swinging home run bats up and down the lineup.

Simply put, they're chasing hard in the wild-card race, not to mention getting a good night's sleep at home Sunday night, waiting for the Yankees to roll into town in in the wee hours, not long before Monday's 2 p.m. start at Camden Yards.

All of which is a way of saying:

While the Yankees were focused on an important swing game with the Red Sox Sunday night that would go a long way toward determining whether they had a realistic shot at winning the AL East, they were facing another reality as well:

That is, they are heading on a nine-game road trip that looms as the toughest part of their remaining schedule and figures to be equally pivotal in their chase of a division title -- more so in at least solidifying a wild-card spot.

...

 
So as big as Sunday night's win over the Red Sox was for the Yankees, one way or the other, they have to know they can't sleep-walk into Baltimore, no matter how little shut-eye the schedule afforded them, to start this crucial road trip.

Because no matter where they stand with the Red Sox, the wild-card race is far from settled."

I think the best strategy for the Yankees is to win as many games as possible by outscoring their opponents.