The wild-card format is working out just how Major League Baseball wanted in 2024 as both races are coming down to the wire.
The American League wild-card has 3 spots available and only 4 teams are left alive for those spots.
Thursday included 2 big wins for 2 American League Central teams who are battling for spots in the postseason.
According to ESPN’s MLB Insider Jeff Passan, the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers magic number dropped to 2 on Thursday.
Kansas City and Detroit both win again. Their magic numbers to clinch a playoff spot are 2.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 26, 2024
In baseball, the magic number is set for a team and goes down with either that team winning or the team chasing them losing.
Both the Tigers and Royals were able to get victories on Thursday with the trailing Minnesota Twins playing Thursday night against the Miami Marlins.
The Tigers beat the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 4-3, and the Royals beat the Washington Nationals by a score of 7-4.
It is safe to say that the Tigers and Royals will be watching the Twins game closely tonight as the Twins trail both teams by 2.5 games in the wild-card race.
The wins on Thursday improved both team’s records to 85 wins and 74 losses.
Playoff appearances have been scarce for both of these AL Central teams with the Tigers not making an appearance since 2014 and the Royals since they won the World Series in 2015.
Friday will mark the beginning of the final series of the season where the Tigers take on the Chicago White Sox and the Royals face off against the Atlanta Braves.
Both teams will look to punch their ticket to the 2024 postseason during these final series.
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