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With the minor-league season over and our typical 8:00 AM slot suddenly open, I figured it would be worthwhile to take a quick daily look at how the playoff picture has changed in the American League on a day-to-day basis. This will be nothing fancy. Just a look at how playoff contenders did on the day, how it affected the standings and what it means for the Red Sox. I’ll consider any team within five games of a playoff spot as a postseason contender. I have considered changing this from five to four but then I would literally not have a column to write anymore. What a dumb playoff race this has turned out to be.
Scores
HOU 6, LAA 2
NYY 5, TOR 1
CLE 11, SEA 4
BOS 5, CIN 0
MIN 10, DET 4
TB 9, BAL 6
KC 8, CHW 2
OAK 1, TEX 0
Playoff Odds
| Team | Fangraphs | Baseball Prospectus |
|---|---|---|
| Team | Fangraphs | Baseball Prospectus |
| Red Sox | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| Indians | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| Astros | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| Yankees | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| Twins | 95.20% | 96.40% |
| Angels | 2.40% | 1.40% |
| Rangers | 0.70% | 1.30% |
| Royals | 1.20% | 0.50% |
| Rays | 0.50% | 0.40% |
Division Odds
| Team | Fangraphs | Baseball Prospectus |
|---|---|---|
| Team | Fangraphs | Baseball Prospectus |
| Red Sox | 97.60% | 97.00% |
| Indians | 100.00% | 100% |
| Astros | 100.00% | 100% |
| Yankees | 2.40% | 3.00% |
| Twins | 0.00% | 0% |
| Angels | 0% | 0% |
| Mariners | 0% | 0% |
| Royals | 0% | 0% |
| Rangers | 0% | 0% |
Playoff Picture Update
Well, this American League playoff race is becoming a snoozefest, unfortunately. Nobody seems to want to challenge the Twins and they are completely running away with this wildcard race. It would basically take a miracle for someone to catch them at this point. Elsewhere, the Yankees clinched a playoff spot on Saturday and celebrated accordingly. Congrats, buds. With all three division leaders winning, too, nothing changes in terms of seeding and it’s looking more and more like Houston and Boston will be playing in the ALDS, though Houston does only trail Cleveland by 1.5 games. Pretty soon this column is probably going to start including the NL playoff stories because they are far more interesting with Milwaukee and St. Louis both in close races behind the Cubs for the division and the Rockies for the wildcard. NL baseball still sucks though.