Snobs vs. Slobs

So, here’s how it works: The Phillies won and the Mets lost, which eliminates the Mets from the NL East and the NL Wild Card race, as the Mets have finished at 88-74. That means the NL Wild Card is coming out of the west (it’ll be the D-Backs (currently at 90 wins), Padres (89) or the Rockies (88)).

Barring a miracle, the Padres will clinch the NL West title for the Diamondbacks by losing to the Brewers this afternoon (they currently trail 10-4 in the top of the 8th). If the Rockies win (currently tied 1-1 in the top of the 7th), they will have a one-game playoff with the Padres to determine who wins the wild card. If the Rockies lose, they will clinch the wild card spot for the Padres. Either way, the D-Backs will have the best record in the league at 90 (or 91) wins, which normally would have them matched up against the wild card team. However, MLB has this weird rule (probably designed so that there could be a Yankees/Red Sox ALCS) that the team with the best record in the league cannot face the wild card team in the first round if the wild card team is from the same division. So the Diamondbacks would then go against the first place team with the weaker record, which is the Cubs. (The Cubs actually have a worse record at 85-77 than San Diego or Colorado.)

So, barring a miraculous comeback from the Padres coupled with an Arizona loss, which could make the Padres NL West champs (and make this whole confusing blog post totally meaningless), the Cubs will play the Snakes in the first round. More analysis to come this week.