By Marc Thaler
Sports Editor

For the third straight season, the Boston Red Sox earned one of eight spots in the second season as the American League’s Wild Card representative. The feat marked the first time in franchise history the local nine qualified for the playoffs in three consecutive campaigns.

Looking at the big baseball picture, Boston achieved its long-term goal of advancing to the 2005 postseason, giving last year’s World Series winners the opportunity to defend their ’04 title.

Following last fall’s fantasy finish, anything short of watching the world champs compete in a 163rd contest would’ve given new meaning to “devastation” for members of Red Sox Nation. But unlike ’03 and ’04, playing deep into October by virtue of winning the Wild Card should be far less satisfying for Sox supporters.

There’s no denying the ’05 campaign was the ultimate test in survival for skipper Terry Francona and his traveling fraternity.

Playing with a heavy target on its back, the team was without a staff ace, solid stopper, or methodical corps of middle relievers for most the year.

Boston relied mightily on its bats to remain in the race, and clinching a chance to dance was no small accomplishment. Nonetheless, the club that claimed the division title was a spitting image of the BoSox. That team – with the $200-plus million payroll located a few miles south – had several of the same flaws.

That’s why there’s simply no skirting around the issue that New York had no business outlasting Boston.

Last weekend, the Yankees clinched their eighth consecutive A.L. East crown and celebrated inside the cramped confines of Fenway Park’s visiting clubhouse. The Pinstripes erased a 5 1/2 game deficit to take the division with an 8-4 win on the second-to-last day of the regular season.

Meanwhile, on Boston’s subdued side of the ballpark, players repeatedly said the path taken to reach the eight-team tournament meant very little. All that mattered, they said, was the ’05 campaign continued beyond the regular-season finale against the Bronx Bombers.

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With a 10-1 triumph in game No. 162, Boston made sure its bubble didn’t burst. But that doesn’t erase the fact the Sox failed to finish first, even if both clubs finished with 95-67 records and had the division decided by a 10-9 season series favoring the ghouls from Gotham.

Considering the reigning champs qualified for the playoffs, it’s easy to shrug the shoulders and act like losing the East is insignificant.

After all, if Francona can guide his group to another A.L. pennant – and ultimately win another World Series championship – what difference does it make?

In the team’s two previous trips to the playoffs, I’d agree winning the Wild Card instead of the division mattered none. In truth, Francona and his players are correct that it really doesn’t matter much this year, either.

Except it does – in principle.

In ’03 and ’04, winning the Wild Card was a viable option for a team that chased, but couldn’t quite overtake, New York. This year, the Wild Card was a safety net for the Sox, a team that barely staved off an embarrassing free fall.

Yes, the last three teams to hoist the hardware were Wild Card winners. That’s all well and good, and could certainly ring true again this fall.

There’s also some legitimacy to the argument that, compared to New York, Boston has the better first-round playoff matchup. While the Yankees must meet the well-balanced Angels, the Sox will face Chicago’s laundry.

Still, after witnessing the local nine limp across the finish line – the tape already broken by the Bombers – Boston needs to advance farther than its chief rival.

That’s the only way ’05 won’t be remembered as a campaign where the Sox occupied first place for nearly 90 straight days, but tripped rounding third, heading for home.