The New York Yankees are the best team in baseball.

This probably doesn't come as breaking news for most New Englanders, not after watching the Bronx Bombers live up to that nickname over the weekend.

The Yankees came to Fenway Park with a chance to lock up the division and they made the most of it. Not mathematically, at least not yet, but anyone watching the games knows New York has a hammerlock on its return to the postseason.

The Yankees have the best record in baseball, but that isn't the reason they're the best team in the game.

It's because they have a lineup that can produce runs from top to bottom, with six hitters who already have hit 19 or more homers. It's because they have a pitching rotation that can match up with anyone's.

It's because their bullpen, the Achilles heel of the Yankees for the past few years, has solidified since Phil Hughes became a reliever. They can now get the game to Mariano Rivera, still one of the best closers in the game.

The Yankees simply are playing at a higher level than the Red Sox right now. They have a better record since the All-Star Game than any team at this point of the season in the past 10 years. They are bashing their way to victory and pitching well enough to keep opposing hitters at bay.

It's hard to believe the Sox went 8-0 against New York early in the season. As it stands now, Boston will be fortunate to win the season series.

Boston is still a deep club. It's just that the Yankees are deeper.

The Sox have tried to ride the strength of their pitching staff to a postseason berth, but that staff has fallen on hard times.

Even the ace of the staff, Josh Beckett, is struggling. After allowing a career-high five home runs to New York on Sunday night, he now has given up 10 home runs in his past three starts and 20 on the season.

Beckett has given up more than 20 only once in his career, back in 2006 when he gave up a career-high 36. That was the only season in the last six years Boston didn't make it to the playoffs.

We've said it's time to concede the division to the Yankees. Now, it's time for the final push for the wild card. There is pitching help on the horizon, with Tim Wakefield ready to replace the ineffective Brad Penny in the rotation on Wednesday. Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was supposed to be the third pitcher on this team, made a rehab start in the Gulf Coast League on Monday and could be back soon.

The Sox are even looking elsewhere for help, putting in a waiver claim on Mets reliever Billy Wagner and his exorbitant contract.

The Red Sox begin September with three games in Tampa Bay and are home for a three-game rematch with the Rays a week later. Those six games, and not the three games the Sox just played with New York, will determine Boston's postseason fate.

Tonight, the Yankees open a three-game series with the Texas Rangers. The Rangers are Boston's closest competition in the American League wild-card race. In other words, the Sox need the Yanks to win a few games this week to help them close in on that wild-card berth, their most realistic avenue to the postseason.

The team Sox fans love to despise has left town after effectively locking up the AL East. Now, those same fans will have to root for that team to help Boston's playoff chances.

This week, Sox fans will be saying "Go Yankees." And that, more than anything else, shows you just how desperate this season has become for the Red Sox.

Tom Caron is the studio host for Red Sox broadcasts on the New England Sports Network. His column appears in the Press Herald on Tuesdays.