Pennant Race Standings: October 1

Standings updated through all the games of Monday, October 1; Postseason Odds last updated Monday morning.

NOTE: For the remainder of the regular season, Hit and Run will have a daily post updating the standings relevant to the postseason races. The positive numbers under Games Behind for the wild-card leaders indicate their lead over the second-place team in the race for home-field advantage in the wild-card game. 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. Postseason Odds are from ClayDavenport.com and will be updated in the mornings only.

p = clinched playoff spot

d = clinched division title

Postseason Path: Both the Yankees and Orioles have clinched no worse than a wild-card berth. The Yankees can clinch the division by winning their last two games against the Red Sox. If they only win one and the Orioles win their last two against the Rays, or if the Yankees win none and the Orioles win one, the two teams will play a one-game playoff for the division in Baltimore on Thursday with the loser becoming one of the two wild-card teams. If the Yankees lose their last two games and the Orioles win their last two, the Orioles will win the division outright.

Postseason Path: The Tigers clinched the division with a 6-3 win over the Royals on Monday night.

Postseason Path: Both the Rangers and A's have clinched no worse than a wild-card berth. The Rangers can clinch the division by beating the A's in either of their two remaining head-to-head games in Oakland this week. The A's need to sweep the Rangers this week to win the division outright. The two teams cannot finish in a tie by cause they are playing each other.

Postseason Path: The A's clinched the final American League playoff spot by beating the Rangers 4-3 on Monday night. They own the home-field tiebreaker over the Orioles by virtue of having won their season series 5-4.

Postseason Path: The Yankees hold the home-field tiebreaker over the Rangers by virtue of having won their season series 4-3.

If the season ended today:

• The A's would host the Orioles in the wild-card game.
• The wild-card game winner would open at home against the Yankees in the Division Series.
• The Tigers would open at home against the Rangers in the other Division Series.

Postseason Path: The Nationals clinched the division with the Braves' 2-1 loss to the Pirates Monday night.

Postseason Path: If the Dodgers sweep the Giants and the Cardinals lose their last two games to the Reds, the Dodgers would host a one-game tiebreaker for the wild-card spot on Thursday. The Braves have clinched home-field for the wild-card game.

Postseason Path: The Nationals hold the home-field tiebreaker over the Reds by virtue of having won their season series 5-2.

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.
• The Giants would open at home against the Reds in the other Division Series.

Tiebreakers:  A two-way tie for first place in a division or the second wild-card spot would be decided by a single playoff game on Thursday, October 4. A two-way tie for homefield advantage would be decided by head-to-head winning percentage. For details on other tiebreak scenarios look here.