The baseball season is going longer than expected.
On Sunday, the American League playoff situation became clearer, but the National League is still complicated as they approach what was meant to be a break before the playoffs.
In the American League, the West champion Houston Astros will host the Detroit Tigers, and the Baltimore Orioles will play at home against the Kansas City Royals in a best-of-three Wild Card Series starting on Tuesday afternoon.
The winner of the Astros-Tigers matchup will face the AL Central champion Cleveland in a best-of-five Division Series that begins Saturday. The winner of the Orioles-Royals game will go up against the AL East champion New York Yankees.
The National League is still up in the air due to two rainouts last week caused by Hurricane Helene. The New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Atlanta Braves are competing for the last two wild-card spots in the 12-team playoffs.
The Mets returned to Atlanta on Sunday and will play a doubleheader against the Braves on Monday to make up for the canceled games.
Arizona finished with a record of 89-73, while both the Mets and Braves have records of 88-72. If either the Mets or Braves sweep the doubleheader, the Diamondbacks will secure a playoff spot. However, if they split the games, both the Mets and Braves will advance, leaving Arizona out since the Diamondbacks lost their season series against both teams.
“It’s weird. We don’t even know who to root for,” said Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll. “You just wait to see who wins the first game and root for them in the second. We’ll work out here and be ready to go.”
Arizona can only be the No. 6 seed if they make it to the playoffs, which would mean playing a Division Series against NL Central champion Milwaukee.
“It sucks,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. “But there’s nothing we can do about it. We made this bed. We’ve got to sleep in it, but we’re going to hope for the best. They’re two great franchises, two great managers, and I don’t think either have the gene of laying down.”
