What do you say? You getting a little nervous yet?
We are in the final week of the MLB regular season, and the standings in the NL Central have started to really tighten up thanks to a couple Cubs losses paired with all the teams behind them getting rather hot:
If you want to let yourself get REALL nervous, you start thinking about how the Cardinals are a mere two games back in the loss column, and what if they persevere through the brutal schedule to go 8-2 in their final 10 games?
Well I have good news! The Cubs would have to go 2-5 over their last seven to get passed by the Cardinals in that scenario, and four of those seven games come against the Pirates. So, even if the Cardinals do the very unlikely thing, the Cubs also have to do a very unlikely thing to get passed up. (If you’re starting to wonder about tiebreakers for the division, it’s head-to-head as the first tiebreaker, but the Cubs and Cardinals finished 5-5 against each other. So the next tiebreaker is the intradivision record, and that’s going to depend on how the two teams play over the final week.)
Also, a reminder of the Cardinals’ remaining games: they get the Royals for three, yes, but then they have five in four days against the Brewers (who are still fighting for second in the division AND/OR a Wild Card spot). And then, if necessary, they have to play the Tigers in a doubleheader the day after the regular season concludes. It’s not a brutally tough schedule in terms of opponents, but it remains very difficult in terms of game volume and no off-days. (Then again, they’re gonna have to send MLB a muffin basket for the seven-inning doubleheader thing.)
With the Cubs losing last night and the Cardinals winning, the division magic number remains at 6. Maybe beat up on the Pirates this week, please and thanks?
Meanwhile, the Cardinals will start that Royals series in KC, while the Reds and Brewers start a three-game set in Cincy. Mostly you just don’t want to see either team sweep that one.
And, as for the overall NL playoff picture, it’s tight among the Wild Card and non-Padres second place teams: