American League Playoff Picture After All Six Spots Have Been Clinched
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The Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners clinched the last two American League playoff spots Friday. Now, all six playoff teams are set, with just three days remaining in the regular season. The Baltimore Orioles were eliminated from contention.
All three division champions have been determined. The Houston Astros, New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians have won their respective divisions. The Astros have clinched homefield throughout the American League playoffs, and the Yankees claimed the other bye from the American League Wild Card Series.
All that's up for grabs are the three Wild Card spots. The Rays, Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays have all clinched a Wild Card spot, but the seeding for all three teams is still up in the air.
The Toronto Blue Jays currently lead the Seattle Mariners for the top AL Wild Card spot by 2.5 games. The Mariners lead the Rays by 1.5 games for the second Wild Card spot. The Rays currently sit in the third Wild Card spot.
The Rays are out of the running for the top AL Wild Card spot. The Blue Jays have secured at least a top-2 Wild Card spot. The Mariners could move to the top Wild Card spot or the bottom Wild Card spot, or remain in the second Wild Card spot.
The Blue Jays magic number to clinch the top Wild Card spot is two. If the Mariners lose and the Blue Jays win Monday, they'll have clinched the top Wild Card.
The Mariners play four games between Monday and Wednesday at home against the Detroit Tigers.
The Blue Jays play three games in Baltimore this week against the Orioles, while the Rays will open a three-game series in Boston against the Red Sox Monday.
If the season ended Sunday, the American League playoffs would look like this:
#1 Houston Astros (104-55) BYE
#2 New York Yankees (97-61) BYE
#3 Cleveland Guardians (90-69) versus #6 Tampa Bay Rays (86-73) in a best-of-three American League Wild Card Series (all three games in Cleveland)
#4 Toronto Blue Jays (90-69) versus #5 Seattle Mariners (87-71) in best-of-three American League Wild Card Series (all three games in Toronto)
In the American League Division Series, the Astros would play the winner of the #4 Blue Jays-#5 Mariners series, as the Yankees would play the winner of the #3 Guardians-#6 Rays series.
The Winner of the two Division Series would face each other in the American League Championship Series, with a trip to the World Series on the line.
