5 fighting for 3 spots; also, a 2 seed tussle

Watch the board. You won’t be bored. Major League Baseball has never had a final day quite like the one we’re embarking upon today.

Although scoreboard-watching is a regular rite of the regular-season finale, Scoreboard Sunday is multitasking taken to the extreme. Not only will all 15 games begin within 10 minutes of one another in a range from 3:05 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. ET, but five teams (the Giants, Cardinals, Orioles, Blue Jays and Tigers) will go into those games still in the playoff hunt. The previous high for a final day in the Wild Card era is four, most recently in 2011, which, you no doubt remember, provided an absolutely insane ending.

In other words, we’re on the verge of a fantastic finale.

“This is what we live for as competitors — the big games,” said Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright. “I knew it would come down to the last day. It always does.”

But wait … Is this really the final day? The truth is, we just don’t know yet. Bonus “regular season” baseball is still very much a possibility in both leagues.

The Tigers might have to make up a rained-out game against the Indians on Monday because of its meaning in both the American League Wild Card race and/or the Indians’ fight with the Red Sox for home-field advantage in the AL Division Series. The Cards could still force a Game 163 tiebreaker with the Giants.

And then there’s the most wonderfully Wild scenario of all: A three-team tiebreaker is still possible in the AL, which would throw the early portion of the postseason schedule in dramatic disarray.

We’ll assess today’s scenarios in just a sec. First, here’s what little we figured out on Saturday:

• The Mets have not only clinched a National League Wild Card spot but secured home field for Wednesday’s game. The defending NL champs held the tiebreaker edge over the Giants by virtue of a 4-3 head-to-head record.

• The Giants have clinched at least a tie for the second NL Wild Card spot.

• The NL East-champion Nationals will have home-field advantage in their Division Series against the NL West-champion Dodgers.

• The Mariners were eliminated from Wild Card contention with their valiant loss in extra innings to the A’s, killing not only the dream of postseason baseball for Seattle for the first time since 2001 but also the dream of a four-team Wild Card tiebreaker.

OK, now here’s the outlook for Scoreboard Sunday.

WIN AND THEY’RE IN

Giants: Rookie Ty Blach etched his name in Giants lore with eight brilliant innings against the Dodgers in Saturday’s 3-0 win, and now the Giants are a win away from securing the NL’s second Wild Card spot and a Wednesday date with the Mets in Citi Field.

Matt …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com