bukie

They will not be playing those games. Cubs will play the Marlins with a Cardinals win or Marlins loss. No reason for the Cardinals to play those games i don't believe. If the Brewers win tomorrow, the Cards will have to play the extra two games.

If the Phillies lose and the Cards win tomorrow, they won't have to play the last two games.

Yeah definitely. Right now if the Cardinals lose they will be percentage points ahead of the Marlins. Though if you feel dirty rooting for the Cardinals, you can just root for the Reds, though they are losing too right now Do we know who has the tiebreaker between the Reds and Marlins? Twins would clinch the division today if they win so they’d have nothing to play for tomorrow. Giants could still get to 31-29 also since the Pads have nothing to play for. Reds win that tiebreaker. Twins do not clinch the division if they win today if the White Sox also win, since the White Sox win that H2H tiebreaker.

Here's how that would shake out: 5. Marlins (7-3 vs PHI to win tiebreaker with them, 21-19 in NL ties with Cardinals, 11-9 in last 20 NL games beats Cards 10-10) 6. Cardinals (10-10 vs CIN and MIL to tie them, 21-19 in division beats MIL 20-20, 6-4 vs CIN to win that tiebreaker, 21-19 ties Marlins, 10-10 in last 20 loses last 20 tiebreaker to Marlins' 11-9) 7. Reds (6-4 vs MIL to win tiebreaker, 21-19 vs NL to tie with PHI and eliminate SFG, 12-8 in last 20 NL beats PHI 8-12) 8. Phillies (21-19 vs NL beats MIL 20-20 and SFG 19-21)

Neither play was an error.

Now I want the Brewers to win the next 2 games in the series just to make sure the Cardinals have to play those extra games.

Mariners lose and are eliminated from playoff contention. Angels down to the Dodgers 9-5 in the 9th, and if the result holds, Houston clinches the final AL playoff spot.

The AL Central just got super fun with 2 to play as the Twins are a game up on the White Sox and Indians, and since none are playing each other it's possible they all tie. The tiebreakers: White Sox win a tiebreaker over the Twins (6-4 h2h) Twins win a tiebreaker over the Indians (7-3 h2h) Indians win a tiebreaker over the White Sox (8-2 h2h) In a 3 way tie, the Twins would win the division (11-9 h2h tie with Indians, eliminating the WS, which means Twins win tiebreaker over Indians)

With 2 Phillies losses, the Cubs and Braves have clinched playoff spots

The upgrade from Paxson/Forman/Boylen to Karnisovas/Eversley/Donovan has me more excited about the Bulls than I've been since Rose injured his knee.

They'll be played if they're within 2 games of 9th place also, which is pretty likely. The difference between the 5th seed Marlins and the 10th seed Giants is 1.5 games.

I'm also curious to see if MLB makes the Cardinals play those 2 games against the Tigers if they end up in a tied scenario where they are 29-29 and other teams are 30-30, or if they'll just go to the tiebreakers since the winning percentage is identical. Or if they finish 30-28 and the Reds finish 31-29, if they'll treat it as a tied scenario or they give the Cards the advantage because of a single percentage point of advantage.

I'm sure whichever 30-30 team the Cubs end up playing in the postseason will be an underdog to the Cubs. I'm more curious to see if those teams will do what they can to avoid the Dodgers or Padres in the playoffs by sandbagging the 5 seed.

Also, one of my favorite stat geek things is looking at Fangraphs playoff odds: https://www.fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds As of right now, there are 10 NL teams with at least a 49% chance of getting a playoff spot with just 6 days to play, and 2 of those teams will not in fact get a playoff spot.

If the game gets rained out/cancelled it wouldn't result in a clinch. But yes, if the Cubs win, there's a heavily likely chance they clinch tomorrow.

Playoff update 9/21: Current AL seedings (magic #): 1. Rays 36-19 (X) 2. White Sox 34-20 (X) 3. Athletics 33-20 (X) 4. Twins 33-22 (X) 5. Yankees 31-23 (X) 6. Astros 27-27 (4) 7. Indians 30-24 (1) 8. Blue Jays 28-26 (3) ----------------------------- Outside looking in (elimination #): 9. Mariners 24-30 (4) 10. Angels 24-31 (3) 11. Orioles 23-31 (2) 12. Tigers 22-30 (X) 13. Royals 22-32 (X) 14. Red Sox 20-34 (X) 15. Rangers 19-35 (X) Current NL seedings (magic #): 1. Dodgers 38-16 (X) 2. Cubs 32-22 (2) 3. Braves 32-22 (2) 4. Padres 34-20 (X) 5. Marlins 28-26 (6) 6. Cardinals 26-25 (8) 7. Reds 28-27 (6) 8. Phillies 27-27 (8) ---------------------------- Outside looking in (elimination #): 9. Giants 26-26 (8) 10. Brewers 26-27 (8) 11. Mets 24-30 (5) 12. Rockies 23-29 (6) 13. Nationals 21-32 (3) 14. Diamondbacks 20-34 (X) 15. Pirates 15-39 (X) Clinches: - The Athletics have clinched the AL West, no worse than the 3 seed. - The Dodgers have clinched a playoff spot, no worse than the 4 seed. - The Rays have clinched a playoff spot no worse than the 5 seed. - The Padres have clinched a playoff spot no worse than the 6 seed. - The White Sox have clinched a playoff spot no worse than the 7 seed. - The Twins have clinched a playoff spot. - The Yankees have clinched a playoff spot. Eliminations: - The Pirates, Rangers, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, Royals and Tigers are eliminated from playoff contention. - The Nationals can't win or finish 2nd in the NL East. - The Orioles can't win or finish 2nd in the AL East. - The Angels can't win the AL West. - The Mariners can't win the AL West. - The Rockies can't win or finish 2nd in the NL West. - The Mets can't win the NL East. - The Giants can't win the NL West. - The Blue Jays can't win the AL East. Potential clinches tomorrow: - Rays clinch the AL East with a win or Yankees loss - White Sox clinch no worse than 2nd in the AL Central with a win. - Cubs clinch a playoff spot with a win and a result in the Brewers-Reds game or a loss by the Phillies or Giants. - Braves clinch a playoff spot with a win and a result in the Brewers-Reds game or a loss by the Phillies or Giants. - Indians clinch a playoff spot with a win or Mariners loss.

The Twins have clinched a playoff spot. The Nationals have been eliminated from the NL East title, despite equalling their 50 game start from last season.

The A's have clinched a playoff spot.

The Pirates are the first team eliminated from playoff contention, with 9 games to play.

Playoff update 9/18: Current AL seedings (magic #): 1. White Sox 33-17 (X) 2. Rays 33-18 (X) 3. Athletics 31-19 (2) 4. Twins 31-21 (2) 5. Yankees 29-21 (4) 6. Astros 25-25 (8) 7. Indians 27-23 (6) 8. Blue Jays 26-23 (7) ----------------------------- Outside looking in (elimination #): 9. Mariners 22-28 (8) 11. Tigers 21-28 (7) 10. Orioles 22-29 (6) 12. Royals 21-29 (6) 13. Angels 21-30 (6) 14. Red Sox 19-32 (3) 15. Rangers 18-32 (4) Current NL seedings (magic #): 1. Dodgers 36-15 (X) 2. Cubs 30-20 (5) 3. Braves 29-21 (6) 4. Padres 32-19 (3) 5. Marlins 25-23 (10) 6. Reds 25-26 (12) 7. Giants 25-24 (10) 8. Phillies 24-25 (11) ---------------------------- Outside looking in (elimination #): 9. Cardinals 22-24 (14) 10. Brewers 23-26 (11) 11. Mets 23-27 (10) 12. Rockies 22-27 (10) 13. Nationals 18-29 (8) 14. Diamondbacks 19-32 (5) 15. Pirates 15-34 (3) Clinches: - The Dodgers have clinched a playoff spot, no worse than the 6 seed. - The White Sox have clinched a playoff spot. - The Rays have clinched a playoff spot Potential clinches today: - The Athletics clinch a playoff spot with a win or loss by Seattle. - The Twins clinch a playoff spot with a win or losses by Seattle and Detroit - The Nationals would be eliminated from the NL East race with a loss and a Braves win. - The Pirates would be eliminated with 2 losses today. Eliminations: - The Diamondbacks can't win or finish 2nd in the NL West - The Royals can't win or finish 2nd in the AL Central - The Red Sox can't win or finish 2nd in the AL East - The Pirates can't win the NL Central - The Rangers can't win the AL West

How many times now has he been hired/fired/ leave of absence due to drug issues over the last 25+ years? 10? Think of all hosts that have been kicked aside to give him one of this 13 chances. It was either Spiegs or Goff I believe for this latest one. Yeah, it was Goff they let go for the latest one.

Rays clunch a playoff spot after sweeping a double header against the Orioles, coupled with losses for the Mariners and Tigers.

the standings always seem to show the cubs ahead, do they have the actual tie-breaker? The Cubs currently have the tiebreaker, which is division record, 21-15 to 19-14. In that case that record also ends up tied, the next tiebreaker is last 20 division games, then 21, then 22, continuing until the tie is broken.

Today's White Sox win clinches them a playoff spot. 2 down, 14 to go.

Today's White Sox-Twins game will basically decide the AL Central division, as if the Twins win, they win the season series and the tiebreaker between the teams, and would be within a game of first place. If the White Sox win, they tie the season series, would win the tiebreaker between the two based on divisional record, and be 3 games up in the division. I could see the Twins being extra motivated to win here, because if they do finish 2nd in the division, they line up perfectly for a first round playoff series with the Yankees yet again, and the Twins-Yankees playoff series haven't been very competitive of late.