MLB Playoff Update 9/6: Trevor Story’s three homers keep Rockies on top

American League East

Things went well for the good guys in the AL East on Wednesday. As you probably know by now, the Red Sox went home with an improbable victory with Brandon Phillips leading the charge. It was....weird and awesome. Meanwhile, out west, the Athletics jumped on Luis Severino for four runs in the first and six in the first three innings. The Yankees never recovered and Oakland took the easy victory. As a result, the Red Sox have a 9.5-game lead in the American League East and a magic number of 13 to clinch the division.

American League Central

The Indians won behind a strong Corey Kluber start and have a 16-game lead over the Twins.

American League West

With Oakland winning, they were looking for a loss from Houston to close the gap in the west. Unfortunately, the Astros got a big day from Alex Bregman and they cruised to a victory over the Twins. Houston has now won five in a row and hold a 3.5-game lead over the Athletics.

American League Wildcard

With the A’s taking Wednesday’s game over New York, and taking two of three in that series out in Oakland, they pulled to within 3.5 games of the Yankees for home field in the Wildcard Game. Whether or not they take over the mantle, it continues to look like the battle for home field is the only battle worth following in the wildcard race. Seattle did take a victory over the Orioles to stay within 5.5 games of the second wildcard spot, but their odds are still long.

Current AL Playoff Picture

E: Red Sox (1)

C: Indians (3)

W: Astros (2)

WC1: Yankees (4)

WC2: Athletics (5)

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

National League East

The NL East-leading Braves lost a heartbreaking game to the Red Sox Wednesday afternoon to finish off a sweep. That should have been a damning sweep in a close race, but the Phillies have been struggling a bit of late as well. That continued on Wednesday when the Philadelphia offense was completely shut down by rookie Sandy Alcantara in a 2-1 loss. So, despite the heartbreaking loss, Atlanta held on to their three-game advantage in the NL East.

National League Central

The Brewers and Cubs were playing the biggest series in baseball for the first half of this week, and Milwaukee came into the day looking for a sweep to cut the Cubs’ lead down to two in the NL Central. They couldn’t pull it off, though, with Chicago using a four-run fourth to push them to victory and put their lead in the division at four games. Meanwhile, out in Washington, St. Louis held off a late comeback effort from the Nationals to hold on to a one-run win. The Cardinals trail the Cubs by 4.5 games.

National League West

In the best divisional race in all of baseball, the day started with Colorado leading the Dodgers by a half-game in the West with the Diamondbacks sitting in third just 1.5 games back. Arizona had the day off as they await a visit by the Braves, but Colorado and Los Angeles both had games on Wednesday. The Dodgers couldn’t keep pace as they suffered a highly disappointing loss to the Mets while the Rockies took a victory over San Francisco led by three homers by Trevor Story. The Rockies now have a 1.5-game lead over the Dodgers and a two-game lead over the Diamondbacks. Colorado and Los Angeles start a huge series Friday night.

National League Wildcard

The NL wildcard race remains very crowded, though the two winners are starting to get a little bit of separation. The two NL Central runners-up — the Brewers and Cardinals — hold the wildcard spots right now with Milwaukee holding a half-game edge over St. Louis for home field. The Dodgers are two games behind the Cardinals, with Arizona trailing by 2.5 games and the Phillies falling to 4.5 games back.

Current NL Playoff Picture

E: Braves (3)

C: Cubs (1)

W: Rockies (2)

WC1: Brewers (4)

WC2: Cardinals (5)