MLB Playoff Picture: Astros fall out of tight AL Wild Card | Who will win NL Wild Card race?

MLB Playoff Picture: Astros fall out of tight AL Wild Card | Who will win NL Wild Card race?

you can always count on Sundays with the NFL on CBS and Paramount Plus. Let’s turn your attention to the playoff race in the MLB. Because if the postseason were to start today, here is what you’re looking at. Seattle, Toronto, Philly and Milwaukee would all get the straight shot to the divisional series. The Yankees, though, picking up a crucial win over the White Sox last night. I mentioned Seattle. The Mariners get a bases clearing double from Josh Naylor to beat the Rockies. The Mets are still alive. They got a comeback win over the Cubs, helping their case for the postseason. And with just about five or so games left in the regular season. Let’s get a vibe check on what we can expect with October right around the corner. Our MLB insider Matt Snyder, joining us here. I mentioned it, Matt, just about five or so games left in the regular season. So we’re really in crunch time on the diamond. I want to take you to the Al East first, because the Blue Jays are holding on to a one game lead over the Yankees, but the Bronx Bombers have a lot of momentum. They clinched their eighth playoff spot in their last nine years. They’re going to wrap up the season, Matt with the White Sox before turning their attention to the O’s. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have the Red Sox and the rays. So when it comes to division race, who do you believe in more? First off, I just want to say I cannot remember a season like this where there were so many roller coaster rides for so many different teams and so many different races, it’s unbelievable. Remember, it was early August that we were talking about how the Yankees maybe should fire Aaron Boone, and I was one of the people on that train. They were falling apart. There were people saying, they’re going to miss the playoffs. I tell you what, you can make an argument that going into the playoffs, they’re the strongest bet to make the World Series. Now, Blue Jays still have a leg up here. They have that one game lead. They do have the tiebreaker but a little bit tougher week here in terms of the schedule. The Yankees only have the White Sox and Orioles left. You know the Blue Jays have the Red Sox for two more games. They did lose last night to the Red Sox. The Red Sox, by the way, are fighting for a playoff spot. And I’m sure the rays would love nothing more than to play spoiler there. Orioles as well. They would love to play spoiler against the Yankees, and the Orioles haven’t been that bad. It is, though, an easier road for the Yankees. Do watch that tiebreaker there, though, with the Blue Jays having the tiebreaker and a one game lead. It’s kind of like a two game lead there. Certainly. Interesting. And you mentioned it. The Aaron’s out there for the Yankees. Just inevitable when we get to the postseason play. Let’s take you to the Al central I asked you before you came up the most surprising move. And you said without hesitation, it has been the Guardians chasing down the Tigers just for everyone at home. So we know Cleveland beat Detroit last night. That guarantees them the tiebreaker. And you kind of teased it in the break there. The turnaround. Because back in April they were that was the first time they had the lead in the division or the last time I should say they had the lead in religion going back to July when they were 15.5 games out. And yet here we are. So talk to me about how you’re feeling about the Al central and what the Guardians have been able to do here. Well, I love that. Leading into this segment, you said let’s take a vibes check here. The vibes for the Guardians are off the charts. Good. Right now they’ve won 16 of their last 18. Are you kidding me? They were 11 down less than three weeks ago. And here we are with them tied. They have the tiebreaker. They’re up seven games to four in the head to head series. So even if they lose these last two games to the Tigers, they’ll still have the tiebreaker. Now that would cause them to fall behind in the division. So they don’t want to do that. I think as long as they get one of these next two over the Tigers, they’re going to win the division. Now the Tigers having to go to Red Sox. That’s a tough one because the Red Sox, like the Tigers and Guardians, are fighting to get into the playoffs. So the Tigers the Red Sox are going to play really hard. It’s in Fenway there. And I just talked about the Guardians vibes being great. The Tigers vibes are absolutely wretched. They’re atrocious. Look, second half they haven’t been very good. In fact, we could go back to July 8th. They’re 26 and 38 since then. If we just isolate the second half, they’re 20th in baseball. Out of 30 teams in runs scored, they’re 19th in average, 19th in Ops. They just can’t hit anymore. They’re not pitching well. When Tarik Skubal doesn’t take the mound. They’ve lost his last three starts. Not sure what more to say. Like I said, the vibes are absolutely atrocious. Seven straight losses, only one game ahead of Houston for that final wild card spot. They do have the tiebreaker. But yeah no good vibes in Detroit right now. I want to talk to you about the wild card spots remaining though in the Al Matt out of the Astros, the Red Sox and the Tigers. We’ve kind of talked about all three of them. Who do you think snags those final two spots? I mean, I just there’s just a feeling at this point like right. Like I don’t even need to break it down. I just look at the Tigers and I think they’re completely cooked. They can’t win a game to save their lives. So with the Red Sox being at home against the Tigers there, I do think the Red Sox are going to take care of business against the Tigers. And that knocks them out. Then if you see looking at the Astros, they’re at angels for three. The angels don’t really have anything to play for other than being a spoiler. I think the Tigers are going to fall off here. I think we’re going to see Guardians taking the central, and the Red Sox and Astros get those last two wild card spots there. It would be an unbelievable collapse for the Tigers. And well, in the first half we were talking about A.J. Hinch and how good of a manager he was. Maybe the best in baseball. Somebody’s got to take a fall for this collapse because it would be the biggest in baseball history. They had a 14 game lead in July. The biggest collapse to this point was the 1951 Dodgers, and that was 13 games. Bad vibes just all around bad vibes there. All right. So let’s pivot over to the other side here. When it comes to the National League the Mets are still alive guys. They have a one game lead over the Reds. I will add though, the Reds are facing off with the Pirates and Paul Skenes tonight. Matt as you know he has been electric against this team. A 0.39 ERA, 33 strikeouts in 23 innings pitched. And so when we look at this race when it comes to the NL here, give us an update here on your playoff picture and your playoff outlook there okay. First of all, none of these teams are wild card or playoff caliber teams. So they shouldn’t even be in the race anyway. Somebody’s got to make it. So let’s see who’s going to be the least bad here. Look, the vibes as we keep talking about hilariously, were terrible for the Mets last night when they were down 6 to 1. But Cade Horton of the Cubs had lower back tightness. The Cubs pulled him out of precaution. The Mets stormed back, got a late home run there from Francisco Alvarez, ended up getting the W. Looks like things might be looking a little bit up for the Mets. Diamondbacks. Tough schedule. As you can see there, the Dodgers and Padres are fighting for the NL West crown. The Reds should be a relatively easy schedule there, but they lost to the Pirates last night and now they have to face Skenes. The Reds go to Milwaukee at the end of the season. I don’t think that’s going to be difficult because the Brewers are setting up for the NLDS. They won’t have anything to play for. I still feel like it’s probably going to be the Reds because the schedule is easiest, but as last night showed us, you can’t always go by that. All right, keeping our eye on the Reds. But also we continue to keep our eye on the Dodgers. Matt, we know there’s no clinching scenarios today, which sounds wild given how what we all said at the beginning of the season with this team, the bullpen continues to be an issue that lead as well over the Padres continues to get smaller and smaller. So what is the key for LA to get that division crown? Well, you said it. They need to get the bullpen figured out. And it’s really funny. If we went back to like spring training we know the Dodgers are too good. They’re going to cruise to the NL West title. They’re going to win the World Series. They’re bad for baseball, man. They’re tied for the fifth best record in baseball right now with the Cubs and Mariners. They’re too good. Come on. They they really need to take care of business here. And it’s not going to be easy. Maybe the Mariners clinched the West there and rest a few guys on Saturday and Sunday. But the Diamondbacks are really feisty right now. As we saw last night, that Dodgers bullpen has major issues ERA over five in September. Meanwhile, Padres, it looks like the Brewers aren’t really trying this week, given the way things went down last night. And then the Padres. Diamondbacks are a formidable opponent. As I said, they’re feisty, but the Padres get them at home. I suspect the Dodgers are going to find a way to pull this thing out, but it doesn’t inspire much confidence going into the playoffs because they were supposed to be way better than this. The silver lining is once they get to the playoffs, they have so many starting pitchers, they can kick some of those starters down to the bullpen, and maybe that helps fix some of those bullpen issues. It’s always the pitching that it comes down to. Matt Snyder getting us ready for the playoffs in baseball. That October race is heating up. Snyder, we appreciate the time. Want to give you one look here at tonight’s notable MLB games, as well as the odds there are the Tigers cooked. Matt Snyder certainly seems to believe that is the case. They are taking on the Guardians, those two teams battling for first place. You also have the Mets trying to keep their postseason hopes alive there. Let’s Jacqueline cheering for the Cubs. I’m a Braves fan I’m salty because we won ten in a row for absolutely no reason. I’m actively rooting against the Mets and I wa

Matt Snyder joins CBS Sports HQ to break down the latest MLB playoff picture.

(0:00) AL
(5:19) NL

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