The final weekend of the regular season is here, and there is a lot on the line. Teams are battling for the final Wild Card spots and trying to secure a first-round bye and home-field advantage. But it’s not just about the teams, there are also some intriguing individual storylines to watch.
In terms of the Wild Card races, both leagues have three teams still in contention for the final two spots. The National League race between the Braves, D-backs, and Mets is particularly exciting and could go down to the wire.
Looking at each race in more detail:
- In the American League, the Royals and Tigers are currently in playoff position, with the Twins still alive but trailing by three games.
- The Royals own tiebreakers over both teams, while the Twins hold tiebreakers over both as well. If all three teams end up tied for those final two spots, it would be Twins at No. 5 seed, Royals at No. 6 seed.
- The Royals and Tigers can clinch a postseason berth with one more win or one Twins loss.
- In the National League, Padres have already clinched one Wild Card spot while Mets and D-backs are currently in playoff position with Braves still alive.
- The Braves lead their season series against Mets 6-5. If Atlanta wins at least one half of Monday’s doubleheader against Mets (originally scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday but rained out), they will clinch tiebreaker between them.
- Even if Arizona is eliminated from contention before Monday’s doubleheader between Mets and Braves takes place due to other scenarios playing out favorably for Atlanta or New York (such as finishing Sunday with more wins than Arizona), that doubleheader might still be needed to determine which team gets No. 5 seed.
There are also some individual milestones to keep an eye on:
- Shohei Ohtani has had an incredible season with 53 home runs and 56 stolen bases so far. He could finish among MLB’s top two in both categories – something that hasn’t been done since Honus Wagner in 1908 and Ty Cobb in 1909.
- Emmanuel Clase has been dominant as a reliever this year with a microscopic 0.61 ERA across 73 appearances – putting him on track to join an exclusive group of pitchers who have achieved an ERA of 0.75 or lower in over 50 innings pitched.
this final weekend of regular-season baseball promises plenty of excitement as teams fight for playoff spots and players chase individual records!
