MLB - American League Playoff Races - September 4th

By Ian Palmer

The American League playoff race sees the Baltimore Orioles on top of the East Division on September 4th with the Los Angeles Angels leading the West and the Kansas City Royals sitting in first place in the Central. The Oakland Athletics hold down the first wild-card spot with the Detroit Tigers hanging onto the second one.

Let’s look closer at how things currently stand:

American League West

The Angels were ahead of the Oakland Athletics by 4.5 games with LA having 24 games remaining and the Athletics having 23 to play. The Angels were hanging to first place by just one game at this time last week, but have a stronger grip on the division lead after going 7-3 in their past 10 games. However, they have now lost two in a row. The A’s are still in good position for the first wild-card spot though with a three-game cushion, but they had a five-game lead a week ago. The third-place Seattle Mariners are eight games behind the Angels in the division, but are just half a game out of the second wild-card spot behind Detroit. The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers are fourth and fifth in the West and out of the race. Oakland was 3-7 in their past 10 games while the Mariners went 5-5. The Angels are almost a lock to make the playoffs with MLB.com giving them a 100 per cent chance as of Sept. 4 Oakland is almost as good as in the playoffs as well with a 98.1 per cent shot and Seattle at 42 per cent.

American League Central

Kansas City held a slim 1.5 games over the Detroit Tigers for the division lead, which was the same as a week ago, with the third-place Cleveland Indians also being in the same position as last week at 5.5 games off the pace. Detroit has overtaken the Seattle Mariners for the second wild-card spot though and now have a half-game edge on them. The Indians are still in the wild-card hunt at four games back while the fourth-place Chicago White Sox and last-place Minnesota twins are both out of the playoff race. Cleveland had 25 games to go with Kansas having 24 and Detroit 23. As for the past 10 games, Kansas went 5-5 Detroit was 6-4 and Cleveland was 7-3 . The Royals aren’t guaranteed a playoff spot by any stretch of the imagination as they’ve been given a 69.5 per cent chance with Detroit at 72.6 and Cleveland at just 12.4 per cent.

American League East

The Baltimore Orioles are the kings of the East Division with a 9.5 game lead over the New York Yankees and a 10-game cushion over the third-place Toronto Blue Jays. The Orioles have gone 8-2 in their past 10 outings with the Yankees at 5-5 and Toronto posting a 6-4 mark. The Yankees are sitting four games behind the second wild-card spot while the Blue Jays have gained 2.5 games over the past week and are now 4.5 back of the wild-card position. The Orioles should reach the postseason and were given a 99.7 per cent chance while the Yankees were at 3.6 and the Blue Jays hopes almost over at 2.2 per cent.

American League Wild Card Standings