With only two games left in the season Major League Baseball's playoff picture is still a little bit fuzzy as there are still three teams fighting for two spots in the American League.
Things tightened up considerably on Friday night when the Tampa Bay Rays ended their seven game winning streak when they fell to the Blue Jays 6-3. Cleveland extended their winning streak to eight games and moved into a tie for the first Wild Card spot with Tampa Bay. The Rangers were able to keep pace by beating the Angels and remain one game back. What does this mean for the remaining two days of the season?
Tampa Bay and Cleveland will win the two Wild Card spots if they win the next two games regardless of what Texas does.
Texas will need to win their remaining two games and have either Tampa Bay or Cleveland lose both of their games to win a Wild Card spot by Sunday afternoon.
Then there are all of the possible tie-breakers. If, for example, the season were to end with Tampa Bay in the first Wild Card spot and Cleveland and Texas tied for the second spot there would be a one game playoff on Monday to determine the second Wild Card. The team with the better head-to-head record would host. Easy enough, but what would happen if all three teams were tied?
Major League Baseball announced that if that somewhat likely scenario were to occur it would require two playoff games. First the Indians would host the Rays on Monday with the winner going to the playoffs. On Tuesday the loser of Monday's game would travel to Texas to play the Rangers with the winner making the playoffs, according to MLB.com.
"That schedule is the result of the Indians having the best combined record (7-5) against the Rays and Rangers and therefore having the right to choose to host the first game," an explanation on MLB.com said. "The Rays' combined record is second (7-6) and they chose to go on the road on Monday rather than host a game on Tuesday. The Rangers (5-8) were left with only that option."
If all of that were to occur the winner of the second Wild Card spot will have to travel from Texas to Tampa Bay or Cleveland to play in the one-game Wild Card playoff on Wednesday.
The two other races that matter are the race for the best record in the league in both leagues. By having the best record a team is guaranteed home field advantage through the League Championship Series.
In the American League the Boston Red Sox have a two game lead on the Oakland A's; if Boston wins either of their two remaining games or Oakland loses either of them Boston will have the best record.
In the National League the Cardinals and the Braves are tied for the best record with the Braves owning the tiebreaker.
