As the final weekend of the regular season arrives, there could be a three-way tie for the two-team Wild Card Game in the American League. On Friday, Major League Baseball laid out the plans if the Rays, Indians and Rangers all finish with identical records.
MLB announces potential AL Wild Card tiebreaker scenario
Craziness could be on the way if there’s a three-way tie in the American League.
Mike Stobe
Since the Indians finished with the best head-to-head record against the Rays and Rangers (7-5), they are designated Team A. The Rays had the second-best record of the three at 7-6, so they are Team B. The Rangers, who went 5-8, are Team C.
If there’s a three-way tie, the Indians would host the Rays on Monday, with the winner becoming the first A.L. Wild Card. The loser of that game would then head to Texas to play the Rangers on Tuesday night, with the winner becoming the other A.L. Wild Card team. The loser of this game would then be eliminated from the playoffs.
The two winners would then play the regularly scheduled A.L. Wild Card Game on Wednesday night. All tiebreaker and wild card games will be televised by TBS.
As of Friday with three games to go, the Rays hold a one-game lead over Cleveland for the top spot and a two-game lead over the Rangers. The Indians are one game ahead of the Rangers for the second slot.
For the three-way tie to happen, there are two scenarios: Tampa Bay would have to go 1-2 against the Blue Jays, the Indians would have to win two out of three against Twins and Texas would have to sweep the Angels so all three teams would have identical 91-71 records. There would also be a three-way tie if Tampa Bay gets swept, Cleveland wins once and Texas wins two out of three.
It’s probably a long shot, but stranger things have happened in baseball.
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