Whereas the NL wild card picture looks a lot like a potential two-team race, the AL’s is a wide-open affair. Maybe Blue Jays fans are a little preemtively hopeful at four games back given they’re well under .500 and behind eight other teams, but that’s also kind of the source of said hope. Despite how many teams are in this thing, four games isn’t all that much with just under two months of baseball to go.
The Royals, Rays, and Mariners are tied for a wild card
Wednesday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes a three-way tie for one AL wild card, a map of hit leaders, and a Joe West suspension.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Imagine, then, how hopeful fans of the Royals, Rays, and Mariners are, given the three clubs are now in a three-way tie for the second wild card spot in the American League. All three clubs are just a smidge over an even record, with the trio all boasting a .509 winning percentage. However, all of that is enough to have the group 1.5 up on the O’s and Twins, the two non-wild card teams closest to one.
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It’s too early to get excited about any tiebreaker possibilities, but we can still think about how fun it will be to consider tiebreaker possibilities late next month. We’ve got three teams vying for one playoff spot right now. Two other teams are only 1.5 games back. The Angels are two back, and managed to stick that close despite being without Mike Trout for weeks -- and he’s back now. We won’t get a six-way tie for one wild card or anything, but the more teams who are close to a tie now, the greater the chances of having at least one tie to deal with come Oct. 2.
Imagine: Oct. 1, everyone plays at 3 p.m. ET, we finish with a tie, and we know there’s at least one Game 163 on Monday and a Wild Card Game on Tuesday. That’s a gauntlet both for the teams and the fans, and we are ready for it.
So, don’t get too excited that the Royals, Rays, and Mariners are all tied up for one playoff spot, with another three teams right there behind them. You can start to at least entertain the possibility we’ll get a tiebreaker scenario out of this mess, though. Come on, MLB, we deserve this kind of chaos.
- We looked up the hit leader born in each of America’s 50 states (and DC, too), and then put them all into a map for you. You, uh, even have options as to which version of the map you can share with your friends on social media.
- There were a few ridiculous catches during Tuesday’s MLB action, but this one from Adam Engel with a full-on fence scaling and maxed-out reach was the most impressive.
- Maybe you prefer Billy Hamilton’s leaping, over-the-shoulder grab. We don’t need to fight: they’re both good catches.
- With Justin Verlander-Astros trade rumors out there, we dusted off the trade rumor grading system.
- Here’s Jon Bois on the story of the saddest plate appearance of all time.
- Pete Rose probably isn’t returning to FOX broadcasts any time soon, which is great for a number of reasons.
- Good tweet, Cleveland.
- Joe West has been suspended three games for calling Adrian Beltre a “complainer.” Go write a song about it, Joe.
- The Braves’ shortstop injured himself jogging from the dugout to his position. Remember that if you’re that one weirdo who yells at Mike Trout for not running out to center.
- Disney is launching its own streaming platform after buying a majority share of BAMTech, which MLB had previously spun off from MLBAM.
- The Mariners retroactively added Felix Hernandez to the DL, and he’s probably out for the rest of August.
- Tropicana Field has the worst food safety record in baseball. Luckily, the time I ate there involved the restaurant within Tropicana, not concession food.
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