MLB Playoff Races And Statistical Leaders Come Down To The Final Day

All 30 MLB teams are in action today for the final time this year with 15 games starting shortly after 3 p.m. EDT. For 28 of them, this is the 162nd game of the season, but two teams fighting for the last playoff spot have a doubleheader lined up tomorrow.

In addition to postseason berths and seeding battles, some important statistical leaders will be resolved on the final day. Here’s what to watch across MLB.

NL Wild Card

The Atlanta Braves and New York Mets will play a pair of games tomorrow after Hurricane Helene washed out their series earlier this week. Coincidentally, they’re fighting each other and the Arizona Diamondbacks for the last two National League playoff spots. Atlanta hosts the Kansas City Royals this afternoon, Arizona has a home game against the San Diego Padres, and the Mets visit the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Braves have the best positioning of the three teams at 88-71, including a tiebreaker over the Diamondbacks. They can clinch the postseason today with either a win or an Arizona loss.

The Mets sit a game behind the Braves at 87-72 and they also have a tiebreaker over Arizona. They need a win today and a Diamondbacks loss to clinch before tomorrow’s doubleheader.

The 88-73 Diamondbacks need the most help, but they can still clinch today if everything breaks right—an Arizona win and losses by both Atlanta and New York. That would tee up tomorrow’s matchups as a battle for just one spot, and if Atlanta loses the first game of the doubleheader, the second would become winner-takes-all.

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AL Wild Card

The playoff field is already determined in the American League, but the matchups are still unresolved. The New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians have first-round byes as the two best division winners. The AL West champion Houston Astros will play one wild card team and the top wild card Baltimore Orioles will have home field against the other.

The last two teams in the bracket are the 86-75 Detroit Tigers and 85-76 Royals. Kansas City holds a tiebreaker over Detroit, so they would be the higher seed if they both finish 86-76. If Detroit hand the Chicago White Sox their 122nd loss today or if Kansas City falls to Atlanta, the Tigers will play Baltimore while the Royals fly to Houston. If Kansas City wins and Detroit loses, we’ll have Royals-Orioles and Tigers-Astros matchups.

NL Batting Crown

Whoever wins the batting title in the National League will achieve something historic. Right now, Padres first baseman Luis Arraez leads Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, .314-.310.

Ohtani is assured of winning his third MVP in four years after becoming the first 50-50 player in baseball history. He enters the final day with 54 home runs and 58 stolen bases, and he leads the league in most offensive categories, including home runs and RBI (130). If he can overtake Arraez today, he will win the first Triple Crown in the NL since Joe Medwick in 1937. He has 26 hits in his last 39 at bats, raising his batting average 23 points since September 19 when he went 6-6 with three home runs and two steals.

Arraez could put the batting title out of reach by sitting out today, especially since the Padres are locked into the first wild card spot. This would be his third consecutive season leading the league in batting average. He batted .316 for the Minnesota Twins in 2022 and .354 with the Miami Marlins last year. There have only been nine other players in MLB history with three straight batting titles—eight Hall of Famers and Miguel Cabrera, who isn’t yet eligible—but Arraez would be the first to do it for three different teams. It remains to be seen if he will participate in today’s game.

Other Accomplishments

Ohtani’s 50-50 season has overshadowed a quest for 40-40. Cleveland Guardians third baseman has 39 home runs and 41 stolen bases. One more homer would make him the seventh member of the 40-40 club.

Yankees slugger Aaron Judge has also wrapped up another MVP, but two home runs today would put a bow on his incredible season. He’s sitting on 58 at the moment, and he seeks to join Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa as the only players with multiple 60-homer campaigns. If he preserves his ludicrous .701 slugging percentage, he’ll be the first to slug .700 since Barry Bonds in 2004.

On the pitching side, we’re already assured that Atlanta’s Chris Sale and Detroit’s Tarik Skubal will both win the pitching Triple Crown in their respective leagues—leading the circuit in ERA, wins, and strikeouts. Sale is scheduled to pitch in tomorrow’s doubleheader and could extend his lead in those categories, but if the Braves clinch today, they could elect to save him for the postseason instead.

The White Sox have already broken the 1962 Mets record for losses in a season, but they aren’t officially the worst team in modern history. Those Mets only played 160 games and finished 40-120. The 40-121 White Sox would wind up with a slightly higher winning percentage than the 1962 Mets if they defeat the Tigers today. Whether to root for infamy or the salvaging of a scrap of dignity is up to you.