The Major League Baseball season started on March 31 with a game between the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros. All teams have played 160 times since then. When the season started, all teams could expect to win sixty-five and lose sixty-five games. That leaves thirty-two games where the winner or loser becomes a pennant winner or a cellar dweller. At this point, all teams except Boston have lost sixty-five, and all but the White Sox, Marlins and Astros have won sixty-five.  The difference is in the “Fifth Game” that I describe in Fifth Game Theory and those wins and loses in Fifth Games now brings us to the last two games of the season, with all Division winners settled as Boston, Oakland, Detroit, St. Louis, LA Dodgers, and the Atlanta Braves as winners waiting for the five game Division Series and then League Championship Series to determine participation in the World Series.  The top winning percentage team of these six, will play the winner of the Wild Card playoffs on October 1 for the National League and October 2 for the American Leaguel.  That is Boston in the AL, but Atlanta and St. Louis are tied in the NL.

The NL Wild Card team will be the Pirates or Reds, who will play the one game playoff either in Pittsburgh or Cincinnati on October 1, but Pittsburgh has a two game lead but needs to win one more. If Cincinnati wins the next two, they will be tied but Cincinnati will have won the season series between the two teams 10-9, and the game will be played in Cincnnati.

It is not so simple in the American League. There, Tampa Bay and Cleveland are exactly tied at 90-70, and Texas is one game behind them both. If Texas wins its next two, and Cleveland or Tampa Bay lose one, there is a tie therè, if Texas wins two and both Tampa Bay and Cleveland lose one each, there is a three way tie for two positions. The format for a three team playoff is Here, but don’t worry about this until tomorrow night, then just enjoy the wonders of the Major League Season.