Playoff Race Watch: AL West, wild card in play
Saturday marks the next-to-last day of the 2015 regular season (barring any tiebreakers, of course), and we’ve still got some things to sort out. First, though, here’s what we already know insofar as the 2015 playoff fray is concerned …
- The Blue Jays have clinched the AL East.
- The Royals have clinched the AL Central.
- The Mets have clinched the NL East.
- The Cardinals have clinched the NL Central and top seed in the NL.
- The Dodgers have clinched the NL West.
- The Yankees have clinched one AL wild card spot.
- The Rangers have clinched a playoff berth.
- The Pirates and Cubs have clinched the NL wild card spots.
And that brings us to what’s left (full Saturday schedule/scoreboard) …
AL West
In the AL West, the Rangers have a magic number of one, which means they’ll clinch the division crown on Saturday with a win over the Angels or an Astros loss to the Diamondbacks. If the Rangers lose their remaining two games and the Astros win theirs, then we’ll have a tiebreaker between these two teams on Monday in Arlington. The winner of that game would advance to the ALDS as AL West champ, and the loser would play the Yankees in the AL wild card game.
AL wild card
The Yankees, as noted, have already secured one of the two AL wild card berths. As for the other one, the Astros presently lead the Angels by one game and the Twins by two with two to play. The Astros lock up the bid with a win over the Diamondbacks on Saturday in tandem with an Angels’ loss at Texas. Meantime, the Twins will be eliminated from postseason contention with their next loss or the next Astros’ win.
Now, for the possibility of Maximum Chaos. It’s still possible for the Astros, Angels, and Twins to wind up tied for the second wild card berth (as noted above, the Astros are also still alive in the AL West for the moment). The Astros would have to lose their remaining two games, the Angels would have to go 1-1, and the Twins would have to win their last two, which would put all three teams at 85-77. If all of that happens, then there would be a Game 1 between teams A and B, with the winner getting team C in Game 2. The winner of Game 2 would then face the Yankees in the actual wild-card game.
Based on the tiebreakers, the Angels would have the choice of either playing at home in Game 1 (and then Game 2 if they win) or just skipping to Game 2 but playing on the road. Presumably, they would choose to skip to Game 2, which means Game 1 would be Twins at Astros (again, based on home-field tiebreaker, which is head-to-head record among the three) with the winner hosting the Angels for the second wild card.
If the Astros and Angels wind up tied, then the Astros would host the tiebreaker on Monday. If the Astros and Twins wind up tied, then the Twins would host. The two teams finished 3-3 head-to-head, so we go to the second tiebreaker, which is intradivisional record. The Twins hold the edge there, so they’d host.
AL seeding
The Royals and Blue Jays enter Saturday with indential 93-67 records. The Jays won the season series over KC, so they’d get the nod should the two teams finish with the same record. So for the Royals to to be top seed, they’d need to win their final two with the Blue Jays while the Jays go 1-1 or 0-2. The Royals can also take top honors if they go 1-1 while the Jays lose their final two.
NL wild card
We know the Cubs will play the Pirates, but we don’t yet know who will host. The Pirates will ensure that they’ll play at home for the wild card game with their next win or the next Cubs loss. If the Pirates lose out and the Cubs win out, though, both teams would finish with 97-65 records. In that case, the Cubs would host the wild card game because they won the season series over the Pirates by a margin of 11-8.
NL seeding
Home field in the Dodgers-Mets NLDS match-up is in play. As of Saturday morning, the Dodgers have a half-game lead over the Mets on that front. The Mets will play a doubleheader against the Nationals because of Friday’s rain-out. If the two teams wind up tied in the standings, then the Mets would host, as they went 4-3 against the Dodgers in the regular season.
The Rangers are closing in on another celebration. (USATSI)
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