What’s at stake in final week of season?
Heading into the home- stretch before expanded playoffs, plenty of scenarios in play for many teams
Call it a trot, or maybe a canter, or merely something between a stroll and a sprint. Either way, Major League Baseball's 60- game, pandemicframed, occasionally lame season will hit the tape this week, launching 16 teams into a similarly unprecedented playoff format.
Like the eight weeks that preceded it, the final seven days of games could be largely inconsequential – or absurdly messy.
Seven of the 16 playoff berths are secured, with another five largely spoken for. All that essentially remains?
Six teams, all hovering around .500, fighting for four National League postseason tickets, a slap fight that you'd think could be ignored, save for the fact the survivors will be launched into eminently winnable, best- of- three firstround series.
Additionally, there are MVPs and Cy Youngs and other races for posterity that can flip significantly in just a week. With that, here's what to watch as baseball begins the road to the playoffs, and, ultimately MLB's finals in late October:
Who’s in – or almost in?
First, some housekeeping.
In the NL, the Dodgers and Padres are the lone teams with playoff berths in hand, with LA holding a magic number of four to clinch the division over San Diego. The Braves and Cubs ( both 31- 22) are playoff shoo- ins, with magic numbers of six and five and leads of three and 3 ½ games in the East and Central, respectively.
In the AL, the Athletics, Rays, White Sox, Twins and Yankees are in, the first three clubs holding magic numbers of one, three and four to win the West, East and Central, respectively. The Indians, Astros and Blue Jays will soon join them, leaving the good folks of Seattle more time to appreciate Russell Wilson.
What about those playoff seeds?
Eh. With all teams heading to neutral sites for the Division Series, League Championship Series and ultimately the finals in Arlington, Texas, every last win won't matter so much.
The one race to watch: Battles for the fourth seed in both leagues.
The best- of- three wild- card rounds will be contested entirely at the home of higher seeds, which puts a premium on second- place finishers to produce a better record than their fellow runner- ups.
As of now, the Twins hold a one- game lead over the Yankees for the No. 4 slot in the AL, the difference between three games at Target Field or Yankee Stadium. ( Either way, forgive Twins fans for already fretting, as Minnesota's lost six ALDS and wild- card matchups with the Yankees since 2003, with a cumulative record of 2- 16).
The NL No. 4 seed is pretty much accounted for – the Padres hold a 5 ½ - game lead over the Marlins, and almost certain to host a fellow secondplace finisher in the opening round at Petco Park.
Who grabs the final 4 NL tickets?
This is where it gets messy, and leaves you, gentle reader, with the choice of paying maniacal attention all week long or setting a snooze button for Friday and seeing where the field stands entering the final weekend.
As of Tuesday, the NL's final four in are:
• Marlins ( 28- 26, one- game lead over Phillies for second place in East).
• Cardinals ( 26- 25, one- game lead over Reds/ Brewers in Central).
• Phillies ( 27- 27, half- game lead over Reds/ Giants/ Brewers for first wild card).
• Reds ( 28- 27, superior divisional record than Brewers and Giants).
Keep in mind, the first tie- breaker among clubs is head- to- head, followed by division record, followed by division record in final 20 games ( adding a game until the tie is broken). While all the above looks rather unwieldy, let's start with a single, simpler berth: The second- place finisher in the East will automatically qualify.
Right now that's the Marlins, who enter the week with a massive risk/ reward series: Four games at the Braves, who lead them by three games.
Sweep the Braves, and the Marlins – in a season ravaged by a COVID- 19 outbreak and the resulting make- up games – would lead the East by a game and hold the head- to- head tie- breaker. Get swept, and the Marlins tumble below .500 and likely out of the field altogether.
The Phillies close with four games at the banged- up Nationals and three with the Rays, who by then may be cooling their engines a bit for the playoffs, while the Marlins play three at the Yankees. The Marlins hold the head- to- head tie- breaker over Philly.
The third- place East team can only hope to emerge with a better lot than the teams that emerge from a very messy race in the Central. Of note: The Cardinals will be the lone team in this bunch not to reach 60 games – they have just 58 scheduled after a COVID- 19 outbreak idled them for two weeks.
And they very much control their destiny, with a one- game lead already, three games against the sub-. 500 Royals and finishing with four in St. Louis against the Brewers.
That makes the series to watch this week the Reds and Brewers, who play three games in Cincinnati beginning Monday. The Reds hope to align their top three starters – Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, and, on short rest, Trevor Bauer – to seize control of a playoff berth.
As for the Giants? Our final .500 team in the derby will root against a sweep in the Reds- Brewers series, play seven with the Rockies and Padres and pray that their inferior division record – currently 15- 17 – doesn't sink them. ( USA Today/ TNS)