Pennant Race Standings

The Orioles won an 18-inning marathon in Seattle to pull into a tie with the Yankees atop the AL East (though still a game behind in the loss column) and push the Rays, who lost to the Red Sox hours earlier, six games out in both the American League East and wild card races, slipping behind the also-victorious Tigers in the latter, with just 14 games left.

NOTE: For the remainder of the regular season, Hit and Run will have a nightly post updating the standings relevant to the postseason races in the wake of that night's action. The standings below reflect all of the games of Tuesday, September 18. The positive numbers under Games Behind for the wild card leaders indicate their lead over the third-place team in the race, or how far they are from being knocked out of a playoff spot. The Elimination Number (E#) column indicates the total number of the given team's losses and leading team's wins needed to eliminate that team from the race (essentially the reverse of a magic number). The magic number of the leading team is the elimination number of the second-place team.

If The Season Ended Today:

• The A’s would host the Orioles in the wild card game.
• The Wild Card winner would open at home against the Rangers in the Division Series*
• The White Sox would open at home against the Yankees in the other Division Series.

*For this year only, the Division Series has a 2-3 format, which finds the team with “home-field advantage” opening with two games on the road.

If The Season Ended Today:

• The Braves would host the Cardinals in the wild card game.
• The wild card winner would open at home against the Nationals in the Division Series
• The Giants would open at home against the Reds in the other Division Series.