MLB playoff standings, tiebreakers and scenarios

UPDATE: The playoff races and tiebreaker scenarios are updated as of Thursday, Sept 27 here.

With just one week to play in the 2013 MLB season, the American League's division races have been all but decided, but there are still half a dozen teams with a shot at making the Wild Card, and home field has yet to be determined.

The Oakland Athletics have officially clinched the AL West for the second consecutive season, thanks to a four-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins and a backward slide by the Texas Rangers. The Boston Red Sox have already clinched the AL East, and the Detroit Tigers have all but locked up the Central Division.

Home field advantage, however, has not been decided. The standings among the three division leaders look like this:

Team	Won- Lost	Pct	GB
Boston	95- 62	.605	---
Oakland	93- 63	.596	1.5
Detroit	91- 65	.583	3.5

While it's unlikely that the Tigers will be able to overtake both teams and claim home field advantage throughout the playoffs with just six games remaining, Oakland is still within striking distance of Boston. The team with the best overall record would host the winner of the one game wild card playoff, while the other two teams would play each other in the League Division Series (LDS).

In case of a tie, no playoff would be used to determine which teams play each other, or where the games would be played. An extra game is only played when winning the division or one club being potentially eliminated is at stake. In any case, the A's hold the tiebreaker over the Tigers by virtue of winning four of seven games during the regular season. The Tigers hold a 4-3 advantage over Boston, while the A's split the season series with the Red Sox, 3- 3, but Oakland would win a tiebreaker, as explained here. The second criteria after head to head record is intradivision record.

In the event of a three way tie, Detroit, Oakland, and Boston would all be 10- 10 in head to head records, but the Tigers have the best intradivision record, and would be in line for home field advantage. However, the Tigers have to finish with a better record than Oakland in order to gain home field advantage in a series between the two clubs. That means that the A's effectively hold a three game edge over the Tigers in terms of home field for the ALDS.

So here is the chart showing tiebreaker scenarios among the three AL division leaders.

Team 1	Team 2	Tiebreaker winner
Boston	Oakland	Oakland
Boston	Detroit	Detroit
Oakland	Detroit	Oakland
Oakland Boston Detroit	3 way tie	1. Detroit 2. Oakland 3. Boston

Wild Card race

The Cleveland Indians made a big move over the weekend by sweeping the Houston Astros to move 1½ ahead of the Texas Rangers for the second and final Wild Card playoff spot. The Rays held steady by taking their last three straight over the Baltimore Orioles. The Rays are a half game ahead of Cleveland and two games up on the Texas Rangers.

The Indians also have a very favorable schedule, with two games against Chicago and four against the Twins remaining. The Rays play three against the Yankees before finishing up in Toronto, and the Rangers will host the Astros and the Angels to finish up the regular season.

Still in the picture but fading fast are the New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals and the Orioles. Although they are mathematically alive, they're on life support. Here are the wild card standings after the weekend's action:

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If two teams are tied for the two Wild Card playoff spots, the tiebreaking procedure is used only to determine home field. If two teams are tied for only the second Wild Card spot, a playoff will be held. Refer to the charts below to see which team has the home field. If three or more teams are tied for one or two spots, then a two-round playoff will determine which team advances.

Following are the tiebreaker charts for two way and three way ties among the contenders for the two American League wild card spots. The full tie breaking formula is here. The first tiebreaker is always the head-to-head record between the teams that are tied, and this is enough to decide all ties between the AL Wild Card contenders this season, with the exception of the Rangers and Royals, who split their six game season series

The following charts will help you cut to the chase and see where the games will be played:

A.L. TWO TEAM TIEBREAKERS

Team 1	Team 2	Tiebreaker winner
Yankees	Orioles	Yankees
Yankees	Indians	Yankees
Yankees	Rangers	Rangers
Yankees	Rays	Rays lead 9- 7, 3 games at NY
Yankees	Royals	Yankees
Indians	Orioles	Indians
Indians	Rangers	Indians
Indians	Royals	Indians
Indians	Rays	Rays
Orioles	Rangers	Orioles
Orioles	Royals	Royals
Orioles	Rays	Rays
Rays	Royals	Royals
Rangers	Rays	Rangers
Rangers	Royals	Royals win tiebreaker

In the case of a three way tie, where one club has won the season series against the other two, that team wins the tiebreaker. Where no team has won the season series against the two others, the cumulative record in head to head games between the clubs will decide home field. Only one series remains between wild card contenders, and that is the Yankees vs Rays.

A. L. THREE TEAM TIEBREAKERS

Team 1	Team 2	Team 3	Schedule	Comments
Yankees	Orioles	Rays	Orioles at Yankees Winner at Rays	Yankees get home field if they sweep Rays
Yankees	Orioles	Rangers	Texas at New York Winner at Baltimore	Net win pct gives Baltimore home field.
Yankees	Orioles	Royals	Orioles at KC Winner at New York	Yankees took both season series.
Yankees	Orioles	Indians	Orioles at Cleveland Winner at New York	Yankees won both season series.
Yankees	Rays	Rangers	New York at Tampa Winner at Texas	Rangers won both series
Yankees	Rays	Royals	Likely Rays at New York Winner at Kansas City	But if Yankees sweep the Rays, Rays at KC, winner at NY
Yankees	Rays	Indians	Cleveland at New York Winner at Tampa	If Yankees sweep TB, Cleveland at TB, winner at NY
Yankees	Rangers	Royals	Texas at KC Winner at New York	Any of these three would be just glad to get in
Yankees	Rangers	Indians	Rangers at Cleveland Winner at New York	Rock, paper scissors again
Yankees	Royals	Indians	KC at Cleveland Winner at New York	Yanks beat both Central clubs
Orioles	Rays	Rangers	Rangers at Baltimore Winner at Tampa	Rays win on cumulative record vs Rangers and Rays
Orioles	Rays	Royals	Orioles at Rays Winner at KC	Royals beat both clubs
Orioles	Rays	Indians	Orioles at Cleveland Winner at Tampa	Net wins between three teams
Orioles	Rangers	Royals	Texas at KC Winner at Baltimore	Rangers and Royals split, Orioles win tiebreaker
Orioles	Rangers	Indians	Rangers at Baltimore Winner at Cleveland	Indians won series vs both teams
Orioles	Royals	Indians	Baltimore at KC Winner at Cleveland	Tribe won both series
Rays	Rangers	Royals	Rays at Texas Winner at KC	Rays lost both series
Rays	Rangers	Indians	Texas at Tampa Winner at Cleveland	Total win pct among 3 teams
Rays	Royals	Indians	Rays at Cleveland Winner at KC	Central teams host two games
Rangers	Royals	Indians	Rangers vs KC Winner at Cleveland	Tribe beat both teams

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers have wrapped up the East and West divisions in the National League, respectively. Still at stake is the winner of the NL Central, as well as home field advantage in the playoffs.

Here are the standings in the NL central division.

Team	Won- Lost	Pct	GB
St Louis	91- 65	.583	---
Pittsburgh	89- 67	.571	2
Cincinnati	89- 67	.571	2

The Reds took two out of three from the Pirates to pull even with them, and the two clubs will meet in Cincinnati to finish the regular season. The winner of that series will also hold the tiebreaker for home field advantage, should the two clubs face off in the playoffs. The Pirates won the season series over the Cardinals, but St Louis won the series over the Reds.

In the event of a tie for the division title, a playoff would be held among the tied teams. Here is how the two way tiebreakers look through games of Sunday.

Team A	Team B	Winner	Comment
St Louis	Pittsburgh	.Pirates	Bucs won series 10- 9
St Louis	Cincinnati	Cardinals	St Louis won series, 11- 8
Cincinnati	Pittsburgh	Tied, 8- 8	Winner of final series gets home field

In the event of a three way tie for the division, there would be a playoff. St Louis likely would await the winner of Pirates vs. Reds unless the Pirates sweep Cincinnati. In that case, it's difficult to imagine a three-way tie. Should the Cardinals hang on to win the division, the Reds and Pirates would be the two Wild Card teams. The winner of the final season series would host the playoff if the teams finish with identical records. If the Reds either finish with a better record than PIttsburgh or if the teams tie, but the Reds win the final series, the Pirates could just remain in Cincinnati for their playoff game.

Finally, here are the standings showing the division leaders in the National League.

Team	Won- Lost	Pct	GB
Atlanta	92- 63	.594	---
St Louis	91- 65	.583	2
Los Angeles	90- 66	.577	3

The Braves hold a two game lead with five left to play, and they also won the season series against both the Cardinals and the Dodgers. Los Angeles holds the tiebreaker over St Louis, so they would only need to finish with the same record in order to gain the home field advantage in the NLDS.

So, if the season ended today, the Indians would play the Rays in the AL Wild Card game, with the winner going to play Boston, while the Tigers would begin the playoffs at Oakland. The Reds and Pirates would play in the NL wild card game with the winner going to Atlanta, while the Cardinals would host the Dodgers in the NLDS.

The National League wild card game is scheduled for October 1. The American League Wild card is set for October 2.

The NLDS commences on October 3 and 4. The ALDS begins October 4 and 5.

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