Call to the pen
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American League playoff race: What each team needs to clinch

By Stephen Francis

CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 17: Cleveland Indians celebrate the American League Central Division championship after beating the Kansas City Royals 3-2 at Progressive Field on September 17, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Ron Schwane/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 17: Cleveland Indians celebrate the American League Central Division championship after beating the Kansas City Royals 3-2 at Progressive Field on September 17, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Ron Schwane/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images /

The New York Yankees

With a deficit of just three games behind the AL East-leading Red Sox, the Yankees still own a reasonable shot at winning the division and control their own American League playoff race destiny. Their schedule favors them with six more match-ups against the Toronto Blue Jays and three with the Tampa Bay Rays. Add in a makeup date with the Royals, and you have 10 games against sub-.500 teams to close out the season.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox play their last four against the AL West Champion Astros. Boston will face the Cincinnati Reds and the Blue Jays in their other seven, but those three against Houston could prove critical if they can’t wrap up the East by Thursday. As they contend with a team still fighting for home field advantage, New York could conceivably feast against the Rays.

As for the AL Wild Card, it would take a catastrophic collapse from the Yankees to lose what they have. New York leads the Twins, the second wild card team, by six and a half games and they lead the Angels and Rangers by nine.

The breakdown

If the Yankees wish to win the AL East division, it will take some work. However, the goal is certainly attainable. Check out this estimate.

Let’s stay relatively conservative and estimate a finish by New York of 7-3. In order to win the East, they’ll need Boston to finish 3-7 or worse. This requires help from the Reds and Blue Jays, who each occupy last place in their division. The Blue Jays do still have a very razor-thin slim shot at the wild card, but they’d need absolute chaos in order to get it. (More about that later)

As far as simply winning a playoff spot, the Yankees don’t need much at all. They can clinch a playoff spot with a 2-8 finish to the season, or with the Rangers and Angels each losing twice. New York also needs the Royals to lose just once to assure they’ll never catch them.

All of this to say, the Yankees will likely pop some champagne this weekend. Granted, they haven’t historically thrown big parties over simply making the playoffs. So the thought of them popping champagne is more figurative than literal. The Yankees sit in great shape and will play beyond October 2 this year.

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