BALTIMORE (AP) – Say this much about the Boston Red Sox: They’re consistent.

The Red Sox, who have gone since 1918 without winning the World Series, have added a record-breaking streak to the mix. Boston is the first team in baseball history to finish in second place for seven straight years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

On each occasion, the Red Sox finished as the runner-up to the New York Yankees.

“It says something about this organization because it’s in constant competition,” Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin said. “We’re constantly in the running.”

From 1998 through this season, the Red Sox have reached the postseason four times and won two playoff series. Unfortunately, they’ve been outdone by the hated Yankees.

“It means the Yankees have had a good bunch of teams for seven years because the Red Sox have had some darn good teams,” Boston outfielder Kevin Millar said.

New York clinched the AL East title on Thursday night, meaning the Red Sox will enter the playoffs as a wild-card team. On Friday, when Boston arrived at Camden Yards to play the Baltimore Orioles in a season-ending four-game series, each player had a gray cap waiting for him in his locker that displayed a bold “B” surrounded by the words “WILD CARD.”

During this run of runner-up finishes, the Red Sox have posted 92 or more victories on five occasions.

They may enter the postseason again as a second-place team, but there’s certainly no shame in winning at least 95 games.

“That’s actually a pretty good accomplishment,” center fielder Johnny Damon said. “I’m not embarrassed about it, that we’ve got the second-best record. We don’t mind finishing in second place right now; we feel like we’re in a good spot.”

The Red Sox will likely end up facing the winner of the AL West, either Anaheim or Oakland, although there’s a small chance they could meet AL Central winner Minnesota. Either way, first-year manager Terry Francona said Friday that Curt Schilling would start the opener and Pedro Martinez will work Game 2.

So what if they’re the wild-card team? The Red Sox figure they’ve got as a good a chance to win it all as anyone else, regardless of their checkered postseason history.

“In this day and age, it doesn’t matter how you get in,” Millar said. “Two world championships have been won by wild-card teams. That means it means nothing.”

Said Damon: “Get in the playoffs anyway possible. For us, we’ve had to get in with the wild card. We have the second-best record in the American League and the third-best record in the majors. We’re actually pretty good.”