On the penultimate day of the scheduled regular season, we know nine of the ten playoff teams, and a little bit more. I was away yesterday, and want to get myself and you, the reader, caught up.

The St. Louis Cardinals own the best record in the National League and are NL Central Division chamnpions. They will play either the Pirates or Cubs in the NLDS. Pittsburgh is one win or one Cubs loss away from hosting the NL Wild Card game.

The Mets won the NL East and the Dodgers won the NL West. They will face each other in the NLDS. The Dodgers lead the Mets by 1/2 game for home field advantage in the first round, but the Mets hold the tie breaker. The Dodgers magic number is three to clinch, meaning they will need a Mets loss.

The Blue Jays and Royals are the only settled division winners in the American League, the Blue Jays taking the AL East and the Royals the AL Central. Both teams are tied for best record in the AL, but the Blue Jays hold the tie breaker. They’re magic number for clinching home field throughout the playoffs (the AL wond the All-Star game) is two.

The Yankees will be a wild card. It is possible for Houston to tie New York, in which case the Astros hold the tie-breaker. The Yankees magic number for hosting the Wild Card game is one.

The Rangers are in the playoffs. It is possible for them to be the AL West winner, the first wild card, or the second wild card. If Texas lost their last two games, the Astros won their last two games, and the Yankees lost their last two three games, Houston and Texas would play game 163 for the division. Now, this is odd, but based on the Rangers and Astros 162-game schedule, they would be tied with the Yankees and holding the tie-breaker. But game 163 counts for the regular season, so whoever loses would have a worse record than the Yankees. My guess is that game 163 will only count toward the division title, and the losing Lone Star State team would get the home field in the wild card game.

Both the Twins and Angels are alive for the second wild card slot. The Angels can win the slot outright, the Twins would need to play at least one tie-breaking game to get the slot.

We’ll see how Saturday settles things.