The MLB playoff standings, division leaders and wild card races are getting very tight as the season comes heads to the postseason and September right now the Los Angeles Angels, Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates are all in contention in the American League and National League races.
The American League East division race basically has the Orioles locking up the top spot as they have a big lead over the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays heading into the final month of the season. The only hope for New York and Toronto is the wildcard race and righ now things are very tight in the American League as the September schedule begins on Labor Day.
The Kansas City Royals have taken over Detroit in the central standings and now they will be the division winners barring some type of collapse. The tigers are in control for the second wild-card spot over Seattle and they still have a chance to win the division but they will need to play very well over the final month of the season while the Indians are also still alive for the wildcard.
Los Angeles now leads the American League West after sweeping the Oakland Athletics at home in four games over the weekend and they look like the clear division favorites now with the five-game cushion over Oakland. Oakland and Seattle now are battling it out for the wildcard and while Oakland is still alive for the division the Mariners are probably too far out to get back in the race.
The National League east has the Washington Nationals in control over the Atlanta Braves for the division. The St. Louis Cardinals have taken over Milwaukee in the central and those two teams should duke it out with Pittsburgh while the Los Angeles Dodgers are looking like the clear favorites in the National League West division race over the Giants.
The wild card races both leagues are very close into September and right now teams like San Francisco, Pittsburgh, New York, Seattle, Cleveland and Atlanta are battling. The second wildcard has changed what September means in baseball and this is exactly what the league was hoping for when they added a fifth playoff team and things could go down to the final day of the season once again this year.
The wild card teams could end up needing a play in game once again and if that goes down, it will shake things up heading into the one game playoff. The American League has a number of teams in the mix with Kansas City, Detroit and Seattle all at the second spot, while the National League has the Giants, Brewers and Braves there along with the Pirates.
Check here for the division standings and wild card races in the American League and National League.
