It’s an easy equation really. Win two games, and the Red Sox get the Angels in the first round. Lose out, or drop three of four to Minninniesota, watch the Yankees take three of four, and play Cleveland.

The ability to use Dice-K more than once in a five-game series would be a big advantage for the Sox, no?

As much as it might seem like the second scenario bodes equally well for postseason success, the Red Sox do NOT want to go into the playoffs limping as the Wild Card. Here’s why.

1) If the Sox can finish with the best record in the AL - and the best in the majors by defunct - they get to pick when they start the playoffs. No biggie, right? Wrong. Should the Sox elect to open the playoffs next Wednesday, they would get a five game series in which they could pitch only their top three pitchers. That’s Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka, with Beckett and either Schilling or Matsuzaka going twice, if necessary. That’s a big advantage, regardless of opponent.

2) Despite the fact that the Red Sox won the season series with Cleveland, the Indians are not the team to be tangling horns with right now. The Tribe has cruised through September, sweeping reigning AL champ Detroit out of the playoffs during a remarkable hot streak. The biggest two factors in that push have been C.C. Sabathia, i.e. Monsieur Beckett’s primary competition for the AL Cy Young, and second-year star Fausto Carmona. Wait, that Fausto Carmona? The one who gave up back-to-back walk-off hits to the Sox a year ago? The same. And if you watched him pitch against Boston earlier this summer, you know the difference between his two incarnations. No one wants any part of the Sabathia-Carmona double, particularly if you have you beat Carmona twice to advance. Yikes.

3) As much as final records serve as relatively bland trivia facts in the big scheme of things, they do have a significant impact on momentum headed into the playoffs. And let’s be completely frank, no one wants to cruise into the postseason on the brink of a meltdown. That’s the exact precipice the Sox appeared to be on a week ago, but they’ve since turned a corner behind a strong Schilling start and a patchwork outing from Jon Lester, Kyle Snyder and co. A good finish against Minnesota, a team which is finally grounded but suddenly playing like the ocntender they traditionally are, would be a great test heading into the playoffs. And the sooner the Sox can clinch the division, giving regulars a chance to rest as a result, the better.

Is any of this make or break to reach the World Series? Definitely not. After all, while Cleveland may look like the nightmare matchup at the moment, Anaheim is the team that keeps Yankee fans awake at night. Nonetheless, so much of the playoffs is about a team finding the easiest road possible. Remember 2004, when the Sox swept the Angels to set up a fully rested ALCS against the more entrenched Yankees? We all know how that turned out, and anyone who says the Yanks weren’t breathing fumes a bit in Game 7 doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

C.C. Sabathia may be a crooked-hat chunker, but he’s having an almost transcendent year for the Indians. That’s as good a reason as any to not want to play them.

So here’s hoping for a nice tidy conclusion, rather than another epic, drawn out, down to the wire race for a division title. Otherwise so much of the aforementioned three advantages will wash away like a flotilla of leaves in a September shower.

– Cameron Smith