10 days left in the postseason hunt

Ten days left to grab one of 10 postseason spots. It’s going to take TENaciousness and atTENtion to detail for a team to get through this TENder situation and meet its true poTENtial.

(Don’t ask me how it turns out. I’m not omnipoTENt.)

• Standings | Postseason schedule

Sick of the puns? All right, let’s move on to this 1-10 scale of just how TENse (last one, promise) these last 10 days will be for each remaining conTENder (sorry).

(Note: In an effort to reflect the randomness we’re sure to encounter in these final days, I’ve listed these teams in absolutely no particular order whatsoever.)

Giants: 11

Yep, the Giants broke the scale, because they could still become the first team in history to post MLB’s best record before the break and its worst after the break. Dropping that series in L.A. this week (and losing Johnny Cueto and Brandon Crawford in the process) likely ended their division hopes. But if they can salvage their week by taking the weekend series in San Diego and taking care of business at home against a Rockies team that struggles outside of Coors, they’ll enter the regular-season finale with the Dodgers with the even-year idea still in play.

Blue Jays: 9

Their 7-12 September has all but ended their hope of repeating as division champs, so now the more realistic goal is to reward the 3 million fans who have poured into Rogers Centre this season with a Wild Card home game. It’s no gimme, because they’ve got the Yankees and O’s coming to town before that final trip to Boston.

Mets: 8

Oh, Steven Matz is probably done for the year? Well, hey, what else is new? The Mets have faced news like this all year and are somehow still standing. But they just got swept by the Braves before winning an extra-innings thriller in the series opener vs. the Phillies, so there is danger in assuming anything about their “soft” remaining schedule (a home-and-home against Philadelphia wrapped around a road set in Miami). I’m knocking the Mets’ number down to eight, because if they do fall flat, at least they can blame the injury bug.

Red Sox: 4

Having handled arguably the stiffest end-of-season schedule of any contender (Boston entered September with just 10 home games on the docket and 20 games left against clubs with winning records) remarkably well, Big Papi and the boys have whittled their magic number to clinch the American League East down to five. So at this point, it’s just about maintenance and seeding. They’ll travel to Tropicana Field and Yankee Stadium in the next week, but …

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