So, the Angles are the first to clinch a playoff spot, so I thought it was time to make this thread. 
The only thing I am really concerned about is if Seattle can get their stuff together and get that 2nd playoff spot back or not. 

legacyme3 : What are your opinions and predictions at this point if you have any? I know you like baseball, so I wanted your opinion on this. 


patar4097 : Sticky please, Mister Local? 


UPDATE: The Orioles have also clinched their division. 

At this point? Sure, I guess I'll make a couple of early predictions with the playoffs about what, two to three weeks away?

AL East - Orioles (clinched)
AL Central - Tigers
AL West - Angels (clinched - likely to finish with best record)
AL Wildcards - Athletics and Royals

I'll explain some of the controversial predictions... I believe the Tigers are going to make the playoffs no matter what, whether it is as the Central champ, or a wild card team. Given the Tigers schedule though, I'd say the Tigers have the easiest road (they are presently a game and a half up on the Royals, so they just have to win one game against the Royals and do better against the Twins and White Sox (two worst teams in the AL Central) than the Royals do against the Indians and White Sox (the Indians also being a wild card contender).

So I see the Tigers keeping their division lead. This leaves the Royals only chance of making it as a wild card team.

There are three serious contenders for the wild card, and two dark horses who are basically out of it at this point. The three serious contenders are the Athletics, the Mariners, and the Royals. The two that are in it but not are the Blue Jays and the Indians. The Jays and Indians are 5 games back of the 2nd wild card, and to make up that ground they'll have to be nearly perfect and incredibly lucky. Any combination of 8 losses or Royals wins basically knock them out of contention.

This leaves the A's, M's, and Royals. There's nothing certain here, but I think the Athletics, despite their struggles in the last month hold on. And I think the Royals schedule is just weak enough to give them an edge over Seattle (who have to face the Angels and Blue Jays, two playoff level teams). It'd be nice to see the Mariners make the playoffs, but I don't think they have much chance right now, unfortunately.

NL East - Nationals (I believe they've clinched by now? - Likely best record?)
NL Central - Cardinals (ugh)
NL West - Dodgers
NL Wildcards - Giants and Pirates

The NL picture is clearer, as while only one team has clinched their division (and I'm not even 100% sure if they have), the teams behind them are far enough behind the leaders to make it clear who will win, and the teams behind the wild card leaders are far enough behind that we know who will get those as well.

Technically, the Cardinals, Pirates, and Brewers could all win the NL Central, as they are all within four games of each other, but come on, it is the Cardinals. You know they will pull their dumb luck magic and somehow win the division. This will leave the other two to fight for the wild card.

The Giants are almost certainly not missing the playoffs. For the Brewers to catch the Giants, they would have to also catch the Cardinals, and I don't think that's happening.

This would leave the Pirates and Brewers fighting over the last spot (1 1/2 games separate them). I think the Pirates ultimately emerge victorious however.

The closest race in the NL is the race for homefield, as the Nationals and Dodgers are fighting it out to determine who gets to not only face the wild card winners, but also get homefield until the World Series. I think the Nationals win it, but it's too close to really call. Either or could get it.

If the playoff matchups aligned as predicted, we'd get the following.

A's v. Royals

Angels v. A's/Royals
Orioles v. Tigers

Giants v. Pirates

Nationals v. Giants/Pirates
Dodgers v. Cardinals

If these matchups happen, I believe the following.

A's will beat Royals.

A's will beat Angels (The one upset on the AL side). Tigers will beat Orioles.

A's will beat Tigers to move on to the World Series.

Pirates will beat Giants.

Nationals will beat Pirates. Cardinals will beat Dodgers.

Nationals will beat Cardinals to advance to the World Series.

A's v. Nationals in the World Series. And I think the winner... is the Nationals.

But... that's still a ways off. Closer to the playoffs, my feelings may change based on what the playoff matchups are and how everyone is playing.

legacyme3 : Very interesting. And actually, the Angels currently have the best record at 94 - 57. The Nationals have a 87 - 63 record. If you meant best record for the NL, then yeah, you would be correct in saying that the Nationals have the best record. However, the Dodgers are only a game and a half behind for best record in the NL. 

thing1 :

That's what I said. The AL's best record is basically clinched, and the NL's best record is likely to go to the Nationals or Dodgers. It determines home field until the World Series, so it is kind of important.

Given the schedules, it could go either way, so I just flipped a coin and went with Nationals.

legacyme3 : Well, If Seattle looses today, or the A's manage to beat Texas who have won 4 straight, and are 9-1 in their last 10, it's over for Seattle. 
Come on guys... how do you drop 6 straight? 
patar4097 : Sticky please? Playoffs start in a couple of days. 

thing1 :

The Red Sox at one point lost like 10 in a row this season.

Anything can happen in baseball, losing streaks always seem to happen at the worst times.

Looks like the playoff teams are set, and it looks like I guessed the playoff matchups correctly. (Unless, something crazy happens)

Royals v. Athletics (WC Game)
Tigers v. Orioles
Angels v. WC Game Winner

Giants v. Pirates (WC Game)
Dodgers v. Cardinals
Nationals v. WC Game Winner

These aren't set in stone or anything, but the Nationals are basically 2 games up on the Dodgers for homefield advantage and the top seed, and with how the Nats have been playing lately, it's unlikely they will fall behind.

The Royals could still pass the Tigers, as well, but I don't think it's going to happen.

legacyme3 : Wow. Did you ever think that this would happen? 
This is what I see happening, honestly. 

Felix does his thing, and gets the W, and the ERA Title. Which means, Seattle gets the win they need, with the Angels resting their starters like they did today. 
The A's Go All or Nothing. They either play their hearts out and win, or they rest their starters in anticipation for the 1 game play-off with Seattle in Seattle, knowing that Felix will be pitching in game 162, so he couldn't pitch against them if Game 163 was needed. 

Got anything new to update before the Games start tomorrow before we find out the A's and M's fate? 

mlb789 : Nothing? Nothing at all? 
Chewedmint : What do you think about what is going on? 

Well, looks like everything's just about set and ready to go. I know the Nats are basically the most likely to win, but I'm not cheering for them at all. I will be cheering for the Cardinals to make a comeback from last year and win it all, or I will be going with the angles to win it all. Its also about time to start talking about awards.

thing1 :

It wasn't what I'd call likely, but I never for a minute thought this was impossible.

Honestly, if I'm the A's, I go all-or-nothing today. Because if they win, they are in, and that's it. And if they lose, they still get a chance to beat the Mariners in Game 163. The Rangers are much easier to beat than the Mariners. Sonny Gray should pitch fine against the Rangers, and even if he doesn't, you get Jon Lester pitching in Game 163. And Lester is a proven winner. He doesn't crunch under pressure.

Best case scenario for the A's, is that they win tonight, and get to save Lester for the Wild Card game against the Royals. That'd be huge.

Losing today means they likely have to pitch Samardzija on short rest or rely on Kazmir, who has been magic against the Royals, should they win game 163 against the Mariners.

The Mariners are in rough shape here, because even if Felix is Felix, they need to beat an A's team that is throwing Jon Lester in all likelihood at you. And Lester is probably the best pitcher on that staff. Probably the best guy on either team's staff right now. Felix is great, and normally, I'd take him over Lester. But Lester thrives in big game situations like this, and over the last couple of months, Felix hasn't been all that hot.

zanderlex :

What awards are there to talk about? The AL MVP is Trout, without a doubt, the AL Cy Young needs to be Felix Hernandez, the AL Rookie of the Year is Jose Abreu, even though I don't think he should qualify as a rookie based on foreign experience, the NL MVP is going to be Kershaw, but should have been Stanton. The NL Cy Young is also going to be Kershaw. The NL Rookie of the Year is the only one in the air, and that's a shame, because Jacob DeGrom probably deserves it.

This year's awards are pretty predictable at first glance. You can make an argument for Lester, Sale, or Kluber for AL Cy Young, but it's hard to argue with how good Felix has been all season.

As a Mariners fan, I can't root for either the A's or Angels without feeling dirty. I don't think either team will go very far anyway, at least not the A's. I don't think the A's will beat the Royals, but if they do, they'll lose in the ALDS to the Angels. The Angels can make it to the ALCS but I can't see them going any further. As unlikely as it is, I'd like to see a Royals vs Pirates World Series.

Chewedmint :

I'm rooting for a Royals/Nationals World Series, where the Nationals win. I can't root for the Orioles, Tigers, or the Angels. All three teams are absolutely detestable.

-----

Guess below, I'll predict what I actually think will happen, rather than what I want.

AL WC
Royals v. A's. A's win.

ALDS
Tigers v. Orioles. Tigers win.
Angels v. A's. A's win.

ALCS
Tigers v. A's. A's win.

NL WC
Pirates v. Giants. Pirates win.

NLDS
Cardinals v. Dodgers. Cardinals win.
Nationals v. Pirates. Nationals win.

NLCS
Nationals v. Cardinals. Nationals win.

World Series
A's v. Nationals. Nationals win.

   Now that was quite a game. The Royals were down 7 - 4 in the 6th, but eventually were able to tie it up in the 9th, and later on in the game, after the A's went up by one run again, the Royals were able to come back again before the walk-off double by Perez. This puts an early end to the post season for the A's. who would have seen this coming after how dominant they were earlier this year? Really, I don't think they would have gone anywhere if they were to have held onto this game.

patar4097 : bobq was all up in chat upset because he wasn't able to watch the game. XD 

I am glad the Royals knocked off the A's. The A's eliminated my Mariners, so I am extremely happy about that, and have no issues with it. However, I am not rooting for anybody in particular to go the distance since the M's are not in it, and the Braves are not in it over the National League either. Only reason I would go for the Braves if they were in it at all is because I lived in Georgia for 5 years or so, so I went to a couple of games while I lived there. 

As long as the Royals beat the Angels, I'm happy. I can't stand Angels fans.

I'm so glad the Royals beat the A's.

That was an incredible game, and the result was not at all what I (or really anyone seemed to have) expected. That was hands-down the game of the year, among games I've seen this year.

I'm hoping the Royals clobber the Angels, but I don't have terribly high expectations.

Tomorrow we get Giants and Pirates. Going to be impossible to be better than tonight's game though, unless it's like a double no hitter.

legacyme3 : Has that ever happened? A legit double no hitter, with an actual winner? 

thing1 :

"On May 2, 1917, at the ballpark now known as Wrigley Field, Toney dueled with Hippo Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs during nine hitless innings. In the top of the tenth, the Reds scored on a couple of hits after Vaughn had retired the first batter, while Toney continued to hold the Cubs hitless in the bottom of the inning, winning the game for the Reds. With changes to the scoring rules in recent years, this game is no longer considered as a no-hitter for Vaughn; but it is still the only occasion in major league history in which a regulation nine innings was played without either team logging a hit."

So no, it's never "officially" happened before (although I would dispute that if you don't allow any hits over the first 9 innings of a game, that you should be credited with a no-hitter)

legacyme3 : Have to say I agree with you there. You should have to pitch the entire game to a final result for it to happen. But, that fact that that did happen before is crazy. 

And San Francisco and Pittsburgh play today. I guess I will hope that Pittsburgh wins, that way, I don't have to hear about them losing from my aunt. 

Boy, last nights game between the Giants and the Nationals sure was a beauty. I watched every minute of it except for two innings near the start and it was intense. I haven't seen such a long game since I was at the Mets Marlins game last year and that wasn't even in the postseason. I sure am glad that the Giants were able to win, just one more away from the LCS.

I am really excited for the NLCS this year, really happy to see the Cardinals facing off against the Giants again, two of the best National League teams of the decade so far, with this being the Cards 3rd straight trip to the NLCS. I will be cheering for the Giants this year.