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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 Duane Burleson/Getty Images
Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images /

The Minnesota Twins

Minnesota has flip-flopped back-and-forth a few times with the Angels over the number two AL Wild Card spot. Their performance is a big reason the 2017 American League playoff race has stayed competitive all season.

They have absolutely no shot at winning the AL Central, which the Indians clinched on September 16. But, they are clinging to a two and a half game lead over the Angels and Rangers. Unlike the other contenders, Minnesota still has one more day off on Monday within the season’s final 10 days. Therefore, they have just nine games left. This can be both good and bad, but we’ll get to that later.

The Twins finish the year with six games against the Detroit Tigers and three against Cleveland. Playing the Tigers six times has to sound awesome for Twins fans, but playing the Indians three times likely does not. Playing them at Progressive Field sounds even worse.

There’s no arguing against the Indians’ status as the hottest team in baseball right now. Having lost just once in the last 28 games and with that top AL seed still on the line, Cleveland will come at the Twins with everything they have. So, Minnesota will need some help to get in.

The breakdown

To take the number one wild card spot outright, many things will need to happen. It’s not impossible, but it’s about as close as you can get. If they finish 8-1 to close out the season, they’ll need the Yankees to finish 1-9. Obviously, if the Twins go 7-2, then that means they need New York to end by losing all 10. So, let’s not focus on that so much.

So, like we did with the Yankees, let’s again use a conservative finish estimate for Minnesota. If they end the year by going just 6-3, they only need the Rangers and Angels to each finish 8-2 or worse. This allows for the scenario of a sweep at the hands of Cleveland but taking care of business against the Tigers.

Likewise, a finish of just 5-4 would still require a finish of 7-3 or better from each the Angels and Rangers to eliminate the Twins. That’s why Minnesota still controls their own fate but will need a little bit of help finishing things out.

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