CLEVELAND, OH – José Ramírez and the Indians beat the White Sox on Tuesday night, but still trail Tampa Bay by a half-game in the American League Wild Card standings.
It’s not all bad though, as Oakland lost to Los Angeles, which makes the 3-team race for two Wild Card spots even tighter with just five days remaining in the regular season.
The Indians sit at 93-64 with five games left. The Rays are 94-64 with four games remaining and the Athletics are 94-63, with five games left. Oakland has a one game lead over the Tribe and a half game lead over Tampa Bay.
Remaining Schedule
The Indians play two more games against the White Sox, before finishing the regular season with a 3-game series against the Nationals.
Tampa Bay plays the Yankees on Wednesday. They’re off on Thursday before finishing the regular season with three games in Toronto.
Oakland has one more game against the Angels on Wednesday. They’ll finish the regular season with a 4-game series against Seattle.
Playoff Chances
The Indians’ margin of error remains razor thin. Anything less than a 4-1 finish could end any chance of making the postseason. One of these teams is going to miss the playoffs, which means 95-96 wins probably won’t be enough to earn a Wild Card spot.
The good news is the Indians moved Mike Clevinger to ensure he’d pitch twice before the end of the regular season. He tossed seven innings of shutout baseball on Tuesday. The Indians will turn to him again on Sunday against the Nationals, assuming that’s a must-win game.
Shane Bieber will start for the Tribe on Wednesday, as the Indians look to even up their season series with the White Sox at nine games apiece.
What if the Indians tie the Rays or Athletics?
This season has been a wild ride. Why would anyone expect that to change in the final week?
If the Indians end up with the same record as the Rays or Athletics, then they’ll play a 163rd regular season game to decide which team gets the second Wild Card spot.
The Indians would travel to Oakland or Tampa Bay for the game because they lost the regular season series to both teams.
Game 163 would be on Monday, which means Shane Bieber would likely get the ball in a must-win scenario.
The winner of that game would travel to the city of the team who earned the top wild card spot for a Wednesday matchup and another win or go home scenario.
What about a 3-way tie?
Can you say chaos? This would be a fitting way for the Indians regular season to end with all that’s gone on in 2019.
The Athletics have the best record in the head-to-head matchups with the Rays and the Indians, which means they would get the option of hosting the first play-in game on Monday, September 30. If they chose to do so, Tampa Bay would get to decide if they wanted to play game one in Oakland or hold off for a one game playoff against the loser of game one. The Rays took the season series over the Indians, which is why they'd get to pick next.
The winner of game one would be the first wild-card team. The loser would travel to play the third team next Tuesday. The winner of that game would be the second wild-card team. Oakland could pass on being the first team and instead decide to be the third team, which would give them one must-win game at home on Tuesday.
The Indians would be at the mercy of the Athletics and Rays' decisions, which is less than ideal.
