If you’re just a general baseball fan or a fan of the 4 remaining teams, today is shaping up to be one of the more exciting days in recent memory. There are still 2 playoff spots open with those 4 teams remaining in contention, 1 from each league.
The New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers are tied for the wild card in the National League. The Minnesota Twins hold a ½ game lead over the Chicago White Sox for the AL Central title.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies are all in from the National League. The Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are in from the American League.
It’s pretty simple to figure out or is it. If the Mets win and the Brewers lose, the Mets are in. If the Brewers win and Mets lose, the Brewers are in. If they both win or both lose today, they will play at Shea Stadium on Monday making that the last regular season game at Shea with the winner getting the wild card. The Mets will host the Marlins while the Brewers host the Cubs.
Now here comes the interesting one. If the Twins win against the Kansas City Royals and the White Sox lose to the Cleveland Indians, the Twins are in because their lead will be 1.5 games with no chance of the White Sox making up that deficit. If the White Sox win and Twins lose, then the White Sox will host the Detroit Tigers on Monday in a makeup game. If they both win or lose today, then the White Sox will still need to play the Tigers on Monday. Basically what it boils down to is that if either team has a ½ game lead after Sunday’s games, then the White Sox and Tigers play on Monday.
So if it comes down to the White Sox and Tigers having to play on Monday then things get even more intriguing. If the Tigers were to beat the White Sox then Twins would win the AL Central if the Twins still held a ½ game lead coming into the game on Monday. If the White Sox hold the ½ game lead after play today and lost to the Tigers on Monday then the Twins and White Sox would play on Tuesday for the AL Central title.
Make sense? I’m sure you were confused reading this as I was writing it. Enjoy the games today folks and if you’re a fan of one of the teams not in the playoffs yet, best of luck.
