The playoffs in the American League are complete! With the New York Yankees beating Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 on Monday, Oakland Athletics are now safely in the postseason.
The A’s Magic Number was 1 before Monday’s matches and the only team that could have challenged them for an AL spot were the Rays. So the A’s reached the Postseason before their 7:3 victory in Seattle, which would have made them celebrate anyway.
This means that all six AL playoff participants have already been determined six days before the end of the regular season. The only question is the exact order of the seed list. One thing is certain: The Boston Red Sox are the winners of the AL East with the best balance sheet in position 1.
The Cleveland Indians are in third place as the winners of the AL Central. In addition, the Yankees have already been selected as one of the wildcard teams. However, position 2 of the seed list is still vacant: The Houston Astros are still battling it out with the A’s for the AL West title and are 4.5 games ahead of Oakland. The Magic Number of the Astros is 2.
In this respect, it is likely that the A’s will also compete in the wildcard game and meet the Yankees there. Here only the home right is questionable. The Yankees have a lead of 1.5 games and their Magic Number is essentially 5, because after a balanced balance of both teams (3-3) in the Regular Season against each other, the balance against the other division would decide and here the Yankees are just ahead.
This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.