The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs in dramatic fashion tonight. Not long after, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals, which led to the Pirates clinching the playoffs. It would have been better if the Nationals would have won, since that would have moved the Pirates closer to first in the NL Central. But now the playoffs are official. The Pirates still have a shot at the division, but no matter what they’re going to the post-season. Below are the updates for each race.
NL Central
Cardinals 4, Nationals 3
Pirates 2, Cubs 1
Reds 3, Mets 2
All three teams won tonight, so nothing changed. The Cardinals still hold a two game lead in the NL Central.
The magic number for the Cardinals is four.
Wild Card
Cardinals 4, Nationals 3
Pirates 2, Cubs 1
Reds 3, Mets 2
The Pirates and Reds both clinched the playoffs thanks to wins, and the loss by the Nationals. The two teams remain tied. In the event of a tie, the tiebreaker for home field in the Wild Card game would be the season head to head record. That will be decided this weekend when the two teams meet. There’s still a chance one of them could take the NL Central, but that grows smaller with each Cardinals win. Also, the Cardinals play the Cubs over the weekend, which is a big advantage.
Playoff Seeding
Brewers 5, Braves 0
Cardinals 4, Nationals 3
The Cardinals moved to within half a game of the Braves thanks to their win and the loss by Atlanta. Los Angeles was off, but moved up half a game. They are now two back from the top overall seed. Nothing changed from yesterday to today.
1. Atlanta
2. St. Louis
3. Los Angeles
4. Cincinnati/Pittsburgh
