Praise the second wild-card berth.
Without it, this final weekend in Major League Baseball might be the kind that forces even the steadfast fan to shift his or her attention to the gridiron. But because we are in the era of two wild-card teams in each league, there is no need for attention to be taken off the diamond over the next two days.
The Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels and Minnesota Twins are still alive in the sprint for the second AL wild-card spot. Houston leads the race thanks to a blowout win spearheaded by a stellar start from ace Dallas Keuchel against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, also keeping them alive in the race for the American League West title.
The Angels again relied on Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, along with former ace Jered Weaver, to get a win against the AL West-leading Texas Rangers to remain one game behind the Astros. And the Twins lost to the Kansas City Royals on Friday, putting themselves in a position where they need a ton of help now that they are two games behind the Astros.
All three teams have two games remaining.
The Rangers have a magic number of one to clinch the West, so one more win against the Angels, and the Astros are locked out of that possibility. However, the Astros dictate their own fate for the second wild-card spot. If they win their next two games in Arizona, there is nothing the Angels or Twins can do to knock them from that spot.
Houston is set to use Collin McHugh, who stunningly has 18 wins this season despite a 3.98 ERA and 101 ERA+ over his 31 starts, on Saturday. In his last four turns, the right-hander has a 5.70 ERA (15 earned runs allowed in 23.2 innings), and the Diamondbacks are one of the highest-scoring teams in the National League.
The Astros have not named a starter for Sunday yet, but it would normally be Lance McCullers‘ turn in the rotation. The 22-year-old rookie has given the team six quality starts in his last seven turns, and the lone outing that was not he pitched five innings and allowed two runs. His ERA over those seven stats is 3.27.
The Angels saved themselves Friday, getting a gutty six innings from Weaver. Four relievers then combined for three scoreless innings, which allowed for Trout’s leadoff triple in the ninth inning followed by Pujols’ run-scoring single to hold up for the victory.
“I probably didn’t have my best stuff going out there,” Weaver told reporters. “… Somebody was looking out for me tonight.”
The Angles need to win out and have the Diamondbacks pick off the Astros once over the next two games. Do that and the Angels force a one-game playoff to get into the do-or-die Wild Card Game.
Hector Santiago takes the ball for the Angels on Saturday, but he has not completed six innings in any of his last three starts (10 earned runs allowed in those games), but in two starts before that he allowed just two runs in 13 innings. The Angels desperately need him to revert back to that form in his final start of the regular season.
Right-hander Nick Tropeano throws Sunday. He has pitched well lately, allowing three earned runs in his last 17 innings, but the Rangers could counter him with ace Cole Hamels. The southpaw allowed six runs in six innings in his last turn, but before that he had a 2.78 ERA in his previous eight starts.
After the Angels won Friday, manager Mike Scioscia stated the obvious based on his team’s position in the standings.
“We consider all of these playoff games,” he told MLB Network Radio.
The Twins gave up two runs in the top of the eighth inning and ended up losing 3-1 to the Royals on Friday, pushing them two games behind the Astros and a game behind the Angels. Now, for the Twins’ games to mean anything, the Astros have to lose their next two and the Angels have to lose at least once. Even if the Twins win their next two, they will not get into the playoffs without that help.
The Twins are going with Tommy Milone on Saturday, but the Royals have Yordano Ventura (five earned runs in his last three starts) and Johnny Cueto (eight earned over his last three) scheduled for the weekend.
“I don’t like it but all we can do is keep battling and see what happens,” Twins right fielder Torii Hunter told reporters. “The scenario is those guys lose two, we win two.”
The Astros clearly hold the advantage as the schedule comes down to its final two days, but the MLB regular season has seen stranger things happen than what would have to go down for Minnesota to make the playoffs.
Oh, how that second wild-card spot is keeping it interesting.
All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.
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