MLB Playoff Wrap: We’re All Tied Up

We’ve been waiting for some drama out of the MLB playoff race, and now we have it in the NL wild card.

While the New York Mets have the easier schedule down the stretch, they have dropped the first two games in their series with the Atlanta Braves, which has created a tie atop the wild card standings between themselves, the Giants and the Cardinals for the two wild card spots. Based solely on scheduling, the Cardinals and Mets have an easier path to the one-game playoff than San Francisco, but if the Giants can figure out their bullpen woes, nobody will want to face them in October.

After another bullpen meltdown on Monday night, the Giants beat the Dodgers 2-0 despite both Brandon Crawford and Johnny Cueto exiting the game due to injury. According to Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area, Crawford left with a hand injury in the second inning, while Cueto left his start in the sixth due to a groin injury. Crawford is listed as day-to-day and is expected to miss tomorrow’s game while Cueto will get an MRI tomorrow. Ehire Adrianza will likely get the start at short in Crawford’s absence.

Both Giants runs came off solo homers. One from deadline acquisition Eduardo Nunez in the fifth off Dodgers trade deadline addition Rich Hill. That would be the only run Hill would allow in his five innings while giving up six hits, walking one and striking out seven.

The Giants bullpen worked 3 2/3 innings on Tuesday, giving up just one hit and striking out seven. Steven Okert, Will Smith (who had an excellent curve working for him) and Sergio Romo combined to keep the Dodger bats quiet. Romo’s slider was nice and tight, and he could become the late inning man once again with another solid outing or two.

The Cardinals rode three crooked innings to victory in Colorado, scoring three in the second, two in the fourth and three in the fifth before adding single runs in the sixth and seventh en route to a 10-5 win. The RBI leader on the night? None other than Tuesday’s starter Adam Wainwright, who went 2-for-2 with four driven in.

The Mets rallied for three in the eighth, but ultimately lost 5-4, even with a solid start from Robert Gsellman. Gsellman went 5 1/3, allowed two earned on five hits and walked two while striking out six. The big shot for the Braves was delivered in the top of the seventh off the bat of Adonis Garcia, who notched his 14th homer of the year with two on off lefty reliever Jerry Blevins.

Of course, this all leads to what could a very interesting tiebreaker scenario, which would occur as follows:

Simple, right? Essentially, the Mets and Cardinals would get two cracks at making the wild card game due to each team’s 4-3 record against San Francisco during the regular season. The Giants had a 3-2 lead in their season series with St. Louis heading into the Saturday game of this past weekend, but a bullpen meltdown and a dominant Alex Reyes gave the Cardinals the season series.

Over in the American League, the Blue Jays appear to be righting the ship a bit after their pounding of Seattle, 10-2. J.A. Happ recorded his 20th win on the season, going the absolute minimum to record the win (five innings), giving up two runs on six hits and a walk, striking out eight. In the teeter totter that continues to be the AL wild card standings, the Blue Jays now have a one game lead over the Baltimore Orioles, who lost at home to Boston, 5-2.

The Tigers and Astros also won their games, gaining a game on the Orioles to sit just 1.5 and two games behind Baltimore. With the loss, Seattle remains three back and with their win over Tampa Bay, the Yankees move up to 3.5 back.

Boston’s magic number now sits at eight to clinch the AL East, which seems like a pretty safe bet. However, if they haven’t locked it up before the final weekend of the season, they have three games at home against Toronto that could ultimately determine the division winner.

Texas’ magic number sits at just two games over Houston and one game over Seattle, so the Rangers could clinch as early as tomorrow if they defeat the Angels and Oakland beats Houston.

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The Indians have a magic number of six over the Tigers and two over the Royals, which also appears to be a lock, unless Detroit is able to sweep their upcoming four game series with Cleveland. Even with a sweep, the Indians would still have opportunities to lock up the Central with five games against Kansas City and three at home against the White Sox

The Phillies and Brewers were officially eliminated from the MLB playoff race, while the White Sox could be the next to join them with an elimination number of just two.