We’re now headed into the penultimate weekend of the regular season and no one has clinched a playoff spot., though several teams are very close. The Red Sox and Dodgers could have both booked their tickets to October with a win Wednesday night, but it just didn’t happen.
MLB playoff odds Sept. 19: Royals, Orioles and Yankees keeping hope alive
Taking a look at the latest MLB post-season odds from Cool Standings and Baseball Prospectus.
Al Messerschmidt
Meanwhile, the AL Wild Card race just keeps getting closer. Let’s check in on the AL playoff odds after a crazy night of baseball:
| CoolStandings.com | Baseball Prospectus | |||||||
| Team | Wins | Losses | Div | WC | POFF | Div | WC | POFF |
| Red Sox | 92 | 61 | 99.9 | <0.1 | 100 | 100 | 0 | 100 |
| Tigers | 88 | 64 | 99.8 | 0.2 | 99.9 | 99.9 | 0.1 | 100 |
| Athletics | 89 | 63 | 99.9 | 0.1 | 99.9 | 99.7 | 0.3 | 100 |
| Rays | 83 | 68 | <0.1 | 63.3 | 63.3 | 0 | 78.6 | 78.6 |
| Indians | 82 | 70 | 0.2 | 55.1 | 55.3 | 0.1 | 42.3 | 42.4 |
| Rangers | 82 | 69 | 0.1 | 48.3 | 48.4 | 0.3 | 57.0 | 57.3 |
| Orioles | 81 | 70 | <0.1 | 16.6 | 16.6 | 0 | 13.8 | 13.8 |
| Royals | 80 | 72 | <0.1 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 0 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Yankees | 80 | 72 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
The Rays, Orioles and Yankees all won in dramatic fashion Wednesday night, making the AL Wild Card race just a bit crazier while moving one step closer to realizing the worst nightmares of Rangers fans. Tampa Bay now moves in front in the WC, improving their odds by over nine percentage points (per BP) with the extra-inning win.
The Rangers, on the other hand, lose the ground they gained with their win on Tuesday, dropping their seven-day delta (i.e. odds change in the last week) back down over -30. With three more games still to go against a Wild Card contender -- the Royals -- things aren’t going to get any easier for Texas over the weekend.
Despite losing their series to KC -- and experiencing the biggest one-day drop (-12) in their odds -- the Indians are still sitting in the catbird seat so far as usurping a Wild Card slot goes. BP likes their chances much less than CoolStandings does, but both put the Tribe well ahead of the O’s despite just a half-game lead in the standings because of Cleveland’s much easier schedule in the last week-plus.
The A’s and Tigers both lost, but with the teams right behind them losing as well, they both inched a few hundredths of a point closer to division crowns.
On to the NL:
The Pirates picked a really bad time to be swept by the cellar-dwelling San Diego Padres. While they're still pretty much a lock for a postseason spot, they're going to have to hold their own in six games against the fast-approaching Reds and pray that the Cards falter down the stretch if they want any shot at avoiding the play-in game.
The Braves finally bested the Nats on Wednesday, putting Washington’s odds at a playoff spot perilously close to zero. If DC wants to watch October baseball two years in a row, their best hope is to wish for a historic collapse from one of the two clubs ahead of them.
Los Angeles is still just one win away from clinching the NL West title, while Atlanta needs a win and a Nats loss.
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