There are just two full days left in the regular season, yet there is still plenty of excitement in both the American and National Leagues when it comes to the wild-card qualifiers.
Both leagues are set as far as the division winners are concerned, as the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers have taken the East, Central and West, respectively, in the American League.
The Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers have clinched their divisions as well. The Cubs will have home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs.
The Texas Rangers will have home-field advantage as long as they remain alive, as they clinched the AL’s top seed after their 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night, and should they advance to the World Series, they would have home-field advantage there as a result of the AL’s victory over the NL in the All-Star Game.
Any AL representative will have the home-field edge in the Fall Classic.
The Toronto Blue Jays suffered 5-3 loss Friday night to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. They now hold the second wild-card spot by just a half game over the Detroit Tigers. The loss was exacerbated by the Baltimore Orioles’ 8-1 victory over the New York Yankees and the Tigers’ 6-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
The Orioles have a one-game lead over the Blue Jays and sit in the No. 1 wild-card spot, and the Seattle Mariners remain in contention. The Mariners whipped the Oakland A’s 5-1 on Friday night.
The NL race for the wild card is still wide open, but the New York Mets have a magic number of one after beating the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1. At worst, the Mets will play an extra game at the end of the season because they will be in no worse position than a tie for the second wild-card spot.
When they take the field Saturday at Philadelphia, the Mets will have a one-game lead over the San Francisco Giants, who used a seven-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat the Dodgers 9-3 on Friday night.
The St. Louis Cardinals are two games behind the Mets and one game behind the Giants, as they rolled to a 7-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
World Series Odds
The Cubs remain the favorites to capture their first World Series since 1908.
Manager Joe Maddon’s team clinched the NL Central earlier in September and has a whopping 19-game lead over the second-place Cardinals. Chicago is a 9-4 favorite to win baseball’s championship, according to Odds Shark, meaning a $100 wager would return a profit of $225 should the Cubs go all the way.
The Red Sox surged to the division title with a remarkable 11-game winning streak earlier in September and are the second choice to win the World Series at 5-1. The Rangers, Blue Jays and Nationals all follow at 13-2.
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