The Cardinals and Dodgers went down to the wire again on Sunday, this time St. Louis coming out on top with a 5-2 victory in 12 innings. Don Mattingly used nine relievers to St. Louis’s four, and when you use that many pitchers, one of them is bound to have a bad day. The Cardinals and Dodgers split the four game series, which would have been good for the rest of the pack, but turned out to help Milwaukee the most. They took two out of three from the Mets picking up 1/2 game in the wild card race. The Phillies managed to lose 3 of 4 to Houston, and the Pirates need a win today to earn a four-game split with the Cubs. I wasn’t sure the Astros would get to 50 wins this season, but with the three wins over the weekend, they need just two more.
The most wins that would produce a five-way tie for the NL Wild Card is down to 88, with the Brewers standing in third place in the race.
- Phillies 15-0
- Pirates 15-2
- Brewers 14-2
- Dodgers 12-3
- Cardinals 11-4
Things remain close among the top four contenders for the AL East and AL Wild Card slots, although the Rays didn’t help themselves this weekend. The highest number of wins for a five-way tie here is down to 94:
- Rays 16-0
- Angels 14-1
- Orioles 12-4
- Yankees 11-5
- Athletics 10-6
The good news is that these races are not yet into the territory where a leader needs to play badly for a tie to happen. If the Rays, Phillies, and Pirates don’t start winning, however, we’ll get there soon.
For today, these are the best outcomes to tighten the races:
- Philadelphia defeats New York
- Tampa Bay beats Boston
- Pittsburgh takes Chicago
- Baltimore defeats Seattle
It’s a good day to gain 1/2 game.