Final Day of the MLB Regular Season: Three Chances for a Game 163 Playoff

Major League Baseball is on the verge of, potentially, 48 crazy hours depending on how results in the final day of the regular season shake out Sunday. The division races in the American and National League Central are yet to be decided, nor has the second American League Wild Card, setting up the chance for multiple one-game tiebreakers on Monday.

Here’s the simple math, the Tigers, Cardinals and Athletics control their own destiny — if either of the three win their games today, they clinch their division, or in Oakland’s case, the second AL Wild Card. The three aforementioned teams can also clinch via loses by the Royals, Pirates and Mariners, respectively. The trailing teams need to win and hope the team in front of them loses to force a game on Monday. (MLB has a full, detailed breakdown of all the tiebreakers here, so click there if you want the minutia.)

American League Central (Tigers lead by one game):

Twins (Kyle Gibson) at Tigers (David Price), 1:05 p.m. Eastern. … (Price allowed five runs last week in a start at Minnesota.)
Royals (Yordano Ventura) at White Sox (Chris Bassitt), 2:10 p.m.

American League Wild Card (Athletics lead by one game):

Athletics (Sonny Gray) at Rangers (TBA), 3:05 p.m. … (Oakland is 9-16 in September.)
Angels (Cory Rasmus) at Mariners (Felix Hernandez), 4:10 p.m.

National League Central (Cardinals lead by one game):

Pirates (TBA, possibly Gerrit Cole) at Reds (Johnny Cueto), 1:10 p.m. … (Guessing the Reds righty might want some revenge vs. the Pirates.)
Cardinals (Adam Wainwright) at Diamondbacks (Josh Collmenter), 4:10 p.m.

There cannot be a three-way tie for the AL Wild Card, the second-place team in the Central (Tigers or Royals) will host either Oakland or Seattle in the Wild Card playoff. The Angels and Nationals have clinched the best record in their respective leagues and will play the Wild Card winners later this week. Also, no team in baseball will finish with either 100 wins or losses, as Bud Selig’s dream of parity looks to have become a reality.

Oh right, Sunday is also the final day of Derek Jeter’s career.