With ten games left in the Major League Baseball regular season, there’s still a lot to be decided. Teams like the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox are streaking toward the playoffs, while the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, and Oakland A’s have fallen off the pace. The AL East looks likely to have three teams make the postseason, but which three and in which order?
Three playoff spots, all in the National League, have been clinched, but none of the division titles have yet been claimed. The NL West will have at least two teams in the playoffs as both the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers have already clinched. Those teams are in a dogfight for the division title, but a 2-8 road trip probably ended the Padres’ chances of joining them.
Wild Card Races
Out of nowhere, the Cardinals have won 10 straight games and taken over the race for the second NL Wild Card spot. They flew past the Philadelphia Phillies, Padres, and Reds and enter play on Wednesday with a four-game lead.
The win streak is the longest for the Cardinals since 2001. Nolan Arenado leads the way with 100 RBI, while Tyler O’Neill has been hot lately with clutch home runs to beat the Padres over the weekend. Meanwhile, Adam Wainwright has become a serious Cy Young contender at the age of 40 as he closes in on his 2000th career strikeout.
In the American League, the Red Sox have won six in a row to surge past the New York Yankee and Toronto Blue Jays. Boston is up 1 ½ games on Toronto for the top Wild Card spot, while the Blue Jays lead the Yankees for the final playoff spot by just a ½ game.
Boston is six full games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the division race with a magic number of five. With the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners now three behind Toronto in the loss column, it is increasingly likely that the AL East gets three teams in the postseason.
Toronto has the schedule advantage as they still have series against the Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles in addition to hosting the Yankees. Boston hosts the Yankees this weekend before playing the Orioles and Washington Nationals. The Yankees have the toughest run with series left against each of the three AL East teams in front of them.
The Rays are +290 to win the American League, second only to the Houston Astros at +200. The Red Sox are +850, with the Blue Jays at +1000 and the Yankees at +1100.
Dodgers Still the Favorites
Though they don’t even lead their division, the Los Angeles Dodgers remain the World Series favorites. The defending champions are +285 to win the World Series. They are 9-10 this season against their rival Giants and still trail San Francisco in the standings.
The Dodgers and Giants don’t meet again in the regular season. Los Angeles has series left against the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Brewers while the Giants play the Rockies, Diamondbacks, and Padres.
It appears likely that whoever doesn’t win the division will play the Cardinals in the Wild Card game. Unless the Cardinals pull an upset, the Dodgers and Giants are in line for what could be an epic best-of-five NLDS.
Despite having the best record in baseball, the Giants are +1000 to win the World Series. That puts the Giants with sixth-best odds, third in the National League behind the Dodgers and Brewers (+700). The Astros (+450), White Sox (+750), and Rays (+800) also have better odds than San Francisco.
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