Whirlwind Week of Wild Wins and Walk-offs Ahead -

Despite a hectic round of weekend games, only one new team clinched a postseason berth. So we now have the Toronto Blue Jays joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, and Chicago Cubs with guaranteed October baseball.

Elsewhere, the playoff picture changed in a way to give neutral fans shivers of excitement, and Mets and Tigers fans cold sweats of despair.

Where shall we go first? Let’s head to Cincinnati. The Reds swept the beleagued Cubs with a Sunday night win, thanks to Matt McLain‘s solitary run. If ever there was a good time for Cincinnati to face their division rivals, it was in the series after Chicago secured their playoff spot.

Sounds like a good time to recommend that you check out the latest post by Sean Guest aka That London Cub, celebrating the Cubs’ first playoff berth since 2020.

With the Reds living up to their part of the deal, they needed the Mets to, well Mets it up, which is exactly what happened with Alonso, Soto, and the boys dropping both weekend games. Incredibly, they have lost 11 of their last 15 games.

As the Reds hold the tiebreak, the Mets’ destiny is out of their hands for the first time this season. And there are only six games left.

Mets fans looking for silver linings can glance towards the next series being against the Cubs, but it seems unlikely that Craig Counsell will let Chicago remain demob-happy for too long.

Remaining games

Cincinnati Reds: 3 x Pirates, 3 x Brewers
New York Mets: 3 x Cubs, 3 x Marlins

The Arizona Diamondbacks are only one game behind the Mets and Reds for the final NL Wild Card slot, but they face the toughest run-in with three against the Dodgers and three against the Padres.

Across in the AL, it seems that the battle for the AL West is all over bar the shouting, after Seattle’s sweep of Houston over the weekend. The Mariners have built up a three-game lead and secured the tiebreaker advantage.

However, the fight in the AL Central continues with the Guardians poised to pull off one of MLB’s great comebacks. On 8 July, Detroit had a 15 1/2 game advantage over Cleveland. With six games of the regular season remaining, that lead is a single game.

Starting Tuesday, the eyes of the baseball world will be on the AL Central – that’s not a line you read very often – as Cleveland and Detroit face each other in a series that will likely decide the fate of the division.

I don’t know about you, but I will be tuning in to watch Tarik Skubal against Gavin Williams on Tuesday night. The Guardians’ right-hander has been lights-out in the second half of the season, with a 2.10 ERA (11 starts). Skubal, on the other hand, is simply one of the greatest pitchers on the planet – first half 2.24 ERA, second half 2.23 ERA – if he doesn’t retain his AL Cy Young award, he will be the runner up.

If MLB wanted excitement right up to and including the last week of the regular season, they certainly got it.

Featured image of Hunter Greene by Dylan Buell/Getty Images