Red Sox, A’s Play Decisive Game Tonight

The Boston Red Sox and Oakland A’s will play a deciding game 5 in their opening round baseball playoff series tonight in Oakland. The other first round series wrapped up over the weekend with the Yankees, Cubs and Marlins advancing.

In Atlanta on Sunday night, Kerry Wood pitched another dominating game and Aramis Ramirez began the celebration with a mammoth home run, pushing the Cubs past Atlanta 5-1 in the decisive Game 5 Sunday night for their first postseason series victory since the 1908 World Series.

The Yankees hit four doubles in a six-run fourth inning Sunday, giving David Wells a big lead and breezing into the AL championship series with an 8-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees won the series in four games.

Ten-time All-Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez withstood a hard collision to tag J.T. Snow for the final out, and the Florida Marlins beat Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants 7-6 Saturday, clinching their best-of-five division series 3-1.

In Monday night’s decisive game 5, the Red Sox will pitch Pedro Martinez (14-4) against Oakland’s Barry Zito (14-12). The game is set for 8:18 p.m. EDT. The winner plays the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, starting Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

The National League Championship Series between the Marlins and Cubs will begin Tuesday night at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Game time is 8:20 p.m. EDT.