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Major League Baseball must be absolutely thrilled. This weekend represents the best-case scenario for what the league envisioned when expanding the postseason field to include a third wild-card team. It's the best-case scenario for what the league envisioned when setting up the schedule to conclude the regular season with all 15 games on Sunday, starting within 5-10 minutes of each other. There are playoff spots, important seedings, and division titles up for grabs. And more importantly, several teams fighting for their postseason lives are playing teams that have already been eliminated. Will that matter? Will it not matter? Who has the advantage with tiebreakers? What happens to World Series probability based on what happens this weekend? There are tons of storylines to follow and much at stake. Big MLB Races Up For Grabs Over The Last Weekend Entering Friday's games, one of the best races is at the top of the American League East, where the Toronto Blue Jays are tied with the New York Yankees at 91-68. The Blue Jays own the tiebreaker over the Yankees, meaning if the season ended on Friday, they'd win the division. Toronto hosts the Tampa Bay Rays, long eliminated, while the Yankees host another team out of the playoff race, the Baltimore Orioles. Winning the AL East would be reward enough. But given how tightly bunched the standings are in the American League, it's possible that the first seed is up for grabs in those two series. The Seattle Mariners, having already clinched the AL West, are 90-69, just one game behind the Blue Jays and Yankees. Toronto and New York both own the tiebreaker over Seattle. But if Seattle, with a difficult series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, sweeps, the Blue Jays or Yankees would need to win two of three to take the No. 1 seed. While not as important for the ALDS, homefield advantage for the ALCS could be huge, especially considering the potential for cross-country travel. What happens if all three teams end up tied at the end of the weekend? Toronto would win the AL East, secure the No. 1 seed, the Yankees would be a wild-card team, and Seattle would be the No. 2 seed. Who would the Yankees play? Who knows! Why? Because the third wild-card spot and the AL Central are also up for grabs. The Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers are tied at 86-73, with Cleveland owning the tiebreaker. That 86-73 record is currently sitting in the third wild-card spot, just one game ahead of the Houston Astros. With Boston just one game ahead. And in a cruel twist of fate, the Red Sox host the Tigers. Cleveland, meanwhile, hosts the Texas Rangers, who are eliminated. The Astros? They're playing the eliminated Angels in Anaheim. Yes, this is going to be chaotic. The AL Central is up for grabs. The third wild-card spot is up for grabs. There's the potential for a four-way tie, somehow. It's madness. Then there's the National League. NL Wild Card Could Change Postseason Outlook While the division winners and most seeds are set, there's still one spot left to be determined: the third wild card. And like with the AL, it's a mess in the NL, too. The New York Mets are currently clinging to a one-game lead, with a road series in Miami on tap. But the Cincinnati Reds have surged to within just one game and own the tiebreaker over New York. They travel to Milwaukee to play the Brewers, who have little to play for, needing just one win or one Philadelphia loss to secure the overall No. 1 seed. Arizona is clinging to hope as well, trailing the Mets by two games, but owning the tiebreaker heading into a weekend series in San Diego. Speaking of San Diego, the Padres technically still have a glimmer of hope to secure home field in their wild-card series against the Chicago Cubs. Though if the Cubs win once more, the Padres will have nothing to play for. That third wild-card spot matters, with one of those three teams traveling to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers. The winner of that series likely plays the Phillies in Philadelphia, making for either a division rivalry, a feisty Reds pitching staff against the Phillies' strong lineup, or a matchup of heavyweights with Phillies-Dodgers. There's almost too much to watch for heading into the weekend, and too many potential outcomes to fully track. Chaos is exactly what MLB wants though. And it got it.
