National League Playoff Picture with 3 Days Remaining in Regular Season
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The Atlanta Braves shook up the National League playoff picture over the weekend, sweeping the New York Mets, who had led the National League East division for almost all of the season.
The Braves' magic number to clinch their fifth straight NL East title is now down to one. The Braves are now just one win — or one New York Mets' loss — away from clinching another NL East title.
It seems very likely that the Braves will in fact clinch the NL East, which would send the Mets into the National League Wild Card Series. Here's a quick rundown on the National League playoff picture, with just three days left in the regular season:
• The Los Angeles Dodgers have not only clinched the National League West, but they've also clinched a round one bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
• If and when the Braves clinch the NL East, they'll also clinch a bye from the National League Wild Card Series. The only other team that can clinch a bye, is the Mets, if they were to miraculously comeback and win the division, which would require the Braves to be swept by the Miami Marlins and the Mets to sweep the Washington Nationals this week.
• The St. Louis Cardinals have clinched the National League Central, but are eight games back of the Braves. They are locked into the three-seed of the National League playoffs.
• Whichever team between the Mets and Braves does not win the NL East, is locked into the four-seed. This will likely be the Mets, who are up eleven games on the next-closest National League Wild Card team, the San Diego Padres.
• The Padres clinched their second playoff berth since 2006 Sunday. They have a one-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies, whose magic number to clinch a Wild Card spot is now down to one, as they lead the Milwaukee Brewers by two games and own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Beermakers.
• In order for the Brewers to make the playoffs, they would need to sweep the Arizona Diamondbacks at home and would need the Astros to sweep the Phillies in Houston this week.
• The Padres are up one game on the Phillies, but the Phillies own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Padres. If the Phillies move up a game and tie with the Padres, the Padres will fall to the six-seed. The Padres play the San Francisco Giants at home this week.
If the season ended Sunday, the National League playoffs would look like this:
#1 Los Angeles Dodgers (110-49) BYE
#2 Atlanta Braves (100-59) BYE
#3 St. Louis Cardinals (92-67) versus #6 Philadelphia Phillies (86-73) in a best-of-three National League Wild Card Series (all three games in St. Louis)
#4 New York Mets (98-61) versus #5 San Diego Padres (87-72) in a best-of-three National League Wild Card Series (all three games in New York)
In the National League Division Series, the Dodgers would play the winner of the #4 Mets-#5 Padres series, as the Braves would play the winner of the #3 Cardinals-#6 Phillies series.
The winner of the two Division Series will face each other in the National League Championship Series, with a trip to the World Series on the line.
