Ironically, the Giants pitching scares me, as a Giants fan. Other than Matt Cain, every starter is either currently, or was previously, psycho schizo Jekyll & Hyde.
I don’t think there will be a 163rd game. I believe they only play an extra game if it’s the difference between making the playoffs or not- so they’ll use tiebreakers to resolve the AL East if necessary and the #4 and #5 seeds if necessary.
I’m not a Tiger fan despite my location, but too much can be made of comparing records. A lot depends on when you catch opponents. There are good times and bad times to catch each team and it’s possible that one team or another has extraordinary good or bad luck on when they happen to play certain teams. Also, the interleague opponents vary between divisions so it’s hard to compare the Tigers schedule to that of the Rangers.
In non-playoff news, Bobby Valentine’s season has apparently been summed up in a single incident.
So the Orioles must own the tiebreaker, because columnists are still saying the AL east wildcard could be either the Yankees or the Orioles (like here). That’s why I thought it was a playoff if they tied. I guess I should have paid better attention upthread when RickJay explained it.
Before this year, if two teams were tied for division/wild card, it was decided on tiebreakers. (The Yankees won over the division over the Red Sox a few years ago on this basis.) This year, with the wild cards going to a one-game sudden death playoff, there are real consequences for not winning the division, so the division winner will be decided by a 163rd game if needed.
If the Yankees lose tonight, and the Orioles win, they will be tied after 162 games and will play a 163rd regular-season game to decide the division winner. With any other outcome the Yankees will win the division outright.
That makes perfect sense, Colibri. Thanks for enlightening me.
My beloved Cleveland Indians aren’t involved, but my fantasy baseball team’s standing and the difference between finishing in the money or not may come down to the 163rd game. Now that’s tension. 
Game 163 would count towards regular season stats? That seems odd to me. Do they count as regular season stats for real baseball?
Tie-breakers are considered regular season games.
Interesting, so if you are trying to win a home run title or w/e it helps to have a tiebreaker
1-0 A’s. Odds of me getting any work done have just dropped to 5-1 against.
A’s now up 7-5 after Josh Hamilton drops a routine fly to center.
You give him 1000 chances at that play, and he’ll catch 999 of them…
So the Reds get the Giants and the Nats get the winner of the Cards/Braves wildcard game…interesting.
Most importantly in MLB news: Teddy won.
Games to decide a league or division title have always been considered regular season games. The National League used to play a three-game playoff to decide ties at the end of the regular season. In 1951 the Dodgers and Giants finished the season tied and had a three game playoff; they are listed as having played 157 games (when the regular season was 154). The Yankees and Red Sox both played 163 regular season games in 1978 because of the playoff game to decide the AL East that year.
Conversely, meaningless games at the end of a season sometimes are not played. In 1962 the Mets played only 160 games of a 162 games season. (Fortunately, since they could have lost even more than the 120 they did.)
Before I figured this out it used to confuse me that Cal Ripken’s consecutive games streak included several 161-game seasons (1985, '88, and '90).
I assume from the scenarios that have been posted here that the rule about a division winner not playing a wildcard team from the same division in the LDS round no longer exists?
Good on Leyland for having Cabrera in the lineup tonight. I hope he achieves the Triple Crown. Yaz did it the year I was born and I’d love to see one happen. Even if the importance of those particular stats ha2swaned, it’s been 45 years so it still must be pretty damned difficult.
Correct. League winner gets the play-in game winner regardless of division alignment.
I was wondering what you were talking about.
Oakland A’s - 2012 American League Western Division Champions.