With one week left to go in the Major League Baseball six teams have already clinched playoff spots but there are still two Wild Card spots and the Central title in the American League to be fought over and a dynamic three team race for the Central division title in the National League.
By beating the Washington Nationals the St. Louis Cardinals guaranteed that both Wild Cards will be going to teams from the NL Central; what remains to be determined is which of the three teams will be get the benefit of sitting out the tense one game Wild Card playoff by winning the division. The Cardinals are currently in the driver's seat with a magic number of 4.
The Reds and Pirates, both teams celebrated with champagne showers Monday night, are each two games behind the Cardinals in the division race. Both teams can still make a run at the division but one of them will probably have to sweep the other in the final weekend to have a chance; and they'll need a little help from the Nationals beating the Cardinals a couple of times despite no longer having the playoffs to play for.
In the American League the only division race still going is also in the Central where the Detroit Tigers have a magic number of 2 over the Cleveland Indians. The Tigers have an accommodating schedule the rest of the way playing Minnesota and Miami the rest of the way, if they can't squeeze two wins out of that schedule they don't deserve to win the division.
The last remaining race is for the AL Wild Card. Currently Tampa Bay and Cleveland are holding on to the two spots; both teams have been on fire lately and are each riding four game winning streaks. The Rays have a one game cushion on the Indians for the right to host the one game Wild Card playoff.
The Texas Rangers are one game behind Cleveland and still within striking distance. Both the Rangers and the Indians have easy schedules the rest of the way. Cleveland has two against the White Sox followed by four against the Twins. The Rangers schedule is only a little bit tougher with games against Astros and the Angels.
The Royals, Yankees and Orioles are still technically in it but it will take a bit of a miracle for any three of those teams to make it, especially considering the cupcake schedules faced by the teams ahead of them. The Royals have the best shot out of this group and would need to go undefeated the rest of the way and hope that the doormats on the Indians and Rangers schedules win at least three games.
* Stats and Schedules taken from MLB.com.
