As the regular season winds down, much is left to be decided regarding the playoffs. While the division winners have all been determined, both wild-card spots remain up for grabs, and overall playoff seeding is still at stake. Let’s take a minute to see, at this point, how playoff baseball is set to shake out.
As we know, the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox are tied for the American League wild-card lead. If a one-game playoff were necessary, Tampa would host the contest as they won the head-to-head season series 12-6.
In the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals still have a shot at the wild-card spot, as the Atlanta Braves are doing their best to give it up. If the Cardinals and Braves were to end the season tied, the 163rd game would be held in St. Louis. The Cardinals earn this benefit because they beat the Braves in five of the team’s six meetings this season.
Now it starts to get fun.
The only thing that has been determined so far is that the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies have secured number one seeds. As we’ve seen, the wild-card or fourth seeds are TBD, but so are the two and three seeds from each division.
In the Junior Circuit, the Texas Rangers currently hold an advantage over the Detroit Tigers. However, if these teams finished with the same record, the Tigers would earn the two seed because Detroit won the season series 6-3.
Over in the Senior Circuit, a similar situation is taking place. At this point, the Milwaukee Brewers are leading the Arizona Diamondbacks. But, if the clubs tie, Arizona would jump Milwaukee because the Diamondbacks took four of seven from the Brewers in 2011.
So, as you can see, with only two games remaining, teams still have plenty to play for.