The American League post-season positions have all been clinched, even the wild-card position.
But over in the National League, none of them are yet settled. How common is that, for one league to be all locked up while none of the other league is?
Since there’s been four teams making the playoffs it hasn’t been all that common. I don’t think there’s ever been a situation since 1995 when all four playoff spots in one league weren’t decided this late in the season.
That said, if Houston and St. Louis both win today, they are both in the playoffs (and the Cardinals are beating Milwaukee 5-0 in the 5th).
If you go back to the times before divisional play (pre-1969), it would not be uncommon for one league to be a runaway and the other league to go to the wire. It also would be not uncommon for both leagues to be runaways.
Um, I suppose you mean besides the one-game playoff between the Cubs and Giants in 1998?
Omniscient,, I think what BobT meant is that there hasn’t been a situation when one league still has NO playoff spots decided this late in the season (at least since the inception of the wild card).
Yes, that’s what I meant. In the AL, everybody is set and in the NL no one is set. And even if the Astros beat the Giants tonight and put themselves and the Cardinals in the playoffs, their seeding hasn’t been determined.