They’ve made Friday a day/night doubleheader by moving the Sunday game to 1:05 PM on Friday. Perhaps they feel that they won’t need to play Saturday’s game.
Or, perhaps if Saturday gets rained out, and that game remains important for playoff implications, they can try to schedule it for Sunday.
There are four* teams in the AL battling for three playoff spots. Last night they all lost.
Cleveland lost to Boston 1-0 and Chicago lost to KC 5-4. Guardians maintain a 1-game lead over the White Sox in the AL Central with four games to play.
Texas lost to the Mets 7-2 and Houston lost to Seattle 6-5 in 10 innings. Astros and Rangers remain tied for the AL West, with Houston holding the tiebreaker.
White Sox have a 3-game lead in the wild-card race over Houston/Texas.
*Seattle is still barely alive in the West, although they can no longer win the wild-card. They are four games behind the division leaders with four to play.
I’ve never seen an unluckier Blue Jays squad in terms of injury. Genuinely astonishing how bad it was.
An up-to-date summary of playoff scenarios on MLB.com; lots of clinching scenarios could happen today.
The Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong just stole his 40th base of the season this afternoon, making him the 7th player in the 40-40 club (home runs and steals).
Boy, the Cubs are making clinching a playoff spot nervewracking, aren’t they?
White Sox beat the Royals this afternoon to clinch at least a wild-card spot.
Two minutes later (if FB is to be believed), the Cubs beat the Marlins to clinch a wild-card spot.
They’re such an unexpected turnaround story. The Sox are just two seasons removed from their 41-121 season (the most losses in a season in MLB history), and lost 100+ games in each of the last three seasons.
I didn’t think this would be possible, but the Red Sox and Cubbies might play their last games of the season in the Trop.
Milwaukee beat Philadelphia 5-1 tonight, for the Brewers’ 100th win of the season. They now need only one more win, or a loss by the Dodgers, to lock up the #1 NL seed.
The Padres clinched a wild card berth by beating the Dodgers tonight, 4-2. Los Angeles’s loss means that the Brewers have clinched the #1 seed in the National League, and home-field advantage through the postseason.
All 4 AL teams still chasing the playoffs won yesterday. Seattle has now been officially eliminated, both Cleveland and the White Sox are in the playoffs, and either Houston or Texas will miss the playoffs. Rookie Lucas Spence hit the first 3 homers of his career in the Astros win over the A’s. The losing pitcher in that game was Scott Blewett, which is not a great name for a relief pitcher.
Final 3 games:
Cleveland hosts Kansas City
White Sox host Colorado
Texas at Minnesota
Houston at Sacramento
Between the White Sox, Cubs, & Brewers, you personally have a lot to look forward to here in the post-season. As do our many other Chicagoan Dopers.
That’s the good news. The maybe less than good news is you’ll be glued to your TV morning and night for a month trying to keep up.
Or heck, maybe that’s good news too. 
Aside:
In the relatively unlikely event the World Series comes down to Cubs & White Sox, what’s the cute name for that kind of series? Not the Subway Series as in NYC nor the Freeway Series as in SoCal. It’s the [???] Series.
Not a Chicagoan, but Chicago Transit Authority’s website says that both Comiskey and Wrigley are on the Red Line, so Red Line Series seems legit.
Yup - both parks are located right on the CTA’s Red Line. There are stations right at each park, as well, and many fans take the Red Line to attend games, so that’d definitely be the moniker for such a series.
Though I live in the Chicago area, I’ve been a Brewers fan since my family moved to Green Bay in 1975. The Brewers have not often made it to the postseason, and they have only one World Series appearance: 1982, when they were favored, but lost to the Cardinals in seven games.
They have an excellent team right now (and have for several years), but they do have a weakness (they do not hit for power very well), and they have Goliath (the Dodgers) to get past. I’m cautiously optimistic and excited this year.
(My wife is a White Sox fan, and I got to vicariously enjoy her seeing them win the World Series in 2005. I don’t care for the Cubs. 
)
The AL playoff bracket right now looks like this:
- Tampa Bay (bye)
- Cleveland (bye)
- Houston - will host the White Sox
- Yankees - will host the Red Sox
- Red Sox - at New York
- White Sox - at Houston
The best 3 records in the league belong to the Rays, Yanks, and Red Sox. White Sox (or Guardians) will have a better record than the Astros (or Rangers).
They should just seed on records, but they never will.
Much like the NFL, MLB still places a premium – and awards an advantage – to winning your division. Increasingly, it seems to lead to situations like this.
So hoping the Rangers pull through, because fuck Houston.
Exactly. And it always pisses me off when a 9-8 NFL division winner gets to host a playoff game against a 13-4 wild-card team.
I tend to agree, although I have little love for the Rangers, either.