The final Sunday of the MLB regular season provides quite a bit of intrigue, with two playoff spots up for grabs and matchups still needing to be finalized.
There are still wild-card spots up for grabs in the National League and it will come down to three teams who are vying for the second and third spots.
The New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks are all tied and will be competing for the final two wild-card spots, but one team holds a more favourable advantage over the others.
Atlanta holds a one-game lead over New York and Arizona, which has played more games than the Braves and Mets because two of their games were postponed and are to be played on Monday. This has the Braves as the odds-on favourites to secure one of the spots, with playoff odds above 90 per cent. The Diamondbacks and Mets are still in contention but have odds below 60 per cent, according to Fangraphs.
The Diamondbacks have one more game to play, Sunday against the San Diego Padres, while the Mets and Braves have three games to play, with a double-header scheduled in Atlanta on Monday.
The Braves also hold a tiebreaker over the Diamondbacks, while the winner of the final series between New York and Atlanta will determine the tiebreaker between the two NL East rivals.
Here are the different clinching scenarios available:
1. The Braves can clinch a spot Sunday with a win or an Arizona loss. If either of those scenarios happen, Monday’s doubleheader will only impact seeding for Atlanta. Regardless of what happens Sunday, Atlanta cannot be eliminated from post-season play.
2. The Diamondbacks have no control of their playoff fate. The only way Arizona can clinch Sunday is a win and loss by both the Braves and Mets.
3. Like the Braves, the Mets cannot be eliminated Sunday but can clinch a wild-card spot with a win and a Diamondbacks loss since New York holds the tiebreaker over Arizona. Monday’s doubleheader would then determine the tiebreaker with the Braves, with Atlanta currently holding a 6-5 lead in the season series.
In the American league, there are no playoff spots up for grabs but the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals are still competing for seeding in the wild-card bracket.
The remaining teams have secured their seeds and have nothing else to play for and will wait to see who their opponent will be heading into the playoffs.
Here is what the playoff matchups look like if the season ended today
American League
First-round byes: No. 1 Yankees, No. 2 Guardians
Wild Card Series: No. 3 Astros vs. No. 6 Royals and No. 4 Orioles vs. No. 5 Tigers
National League
First-round byes: No. 1 Dodgers, No. 2 Phillies
Wild Card Series: No. 3 Brewers vs. No. 6 Mets and No. 4 Padres vs. No. 5 Braves
