The Braves beat the Royals 3-0 behind a stellar performance by Max Fried. With both the Mets and Diamondbacks losing, Atlanta is now back in the top three slots, tied with the Mets and one game ahead of the Diamondbacks. This puts Arizona in a precarious position, as they lose the tie breaker to both New York and Atlanta.

I believe this makes the potential doubleheader on Monday less likely. If Arizona sits a game back Sunday evening, there is no way they can gain a wild card berth. At that point, I suspect neither the Mets nor Braves want to play to determine seeding, and would waive off the games Monday and give the Braves the tie-breaker if needed. The Mets might even want the third seed at this point so they can just stay in Milwaukee.

Despite the Royals loss, they do clinch the last AL Wild Card slot as the Orioles beat the Twins 7-2. Twins fans should be rightly upset by this, as an easily winnable slot like this was frittered away. They did play some good teams down the stretch, but since the slide started Aug 18, they were swept by the Royals and lost three of four to Cleveland, important division games. They lost a series to the Reds, the Reds Sox, the Blue Jays, and the Marlins, all teams down in the division. Two or three wins anywhere in there, and the season is quite different.

Nevertheless, good for the AL Central for producing three playoff teams. They were the tanking division not too long ago, and while the White Sox proved to be terrible, the Royals and Tigers made the most of their previous poor seasons.