MLB playoff tiebreakers: AL West and wild-card scenarios
— -- While the full Tiebreaker Madness that Jayson Stark laid out in September appears unlikely to take place this October, there are still several possible AL West and wild-card ties entering the final weekend of the regular season. Here's what would happen in each remaining scenario:
AL West
The Rangers clinched a playoff spot with Thursday's win, but the Astros can still force an AL West tie if Texas goes 0-3 this weekend and Houston wins its three remaining games to put both teams at 87-75.
If Astros and Rangers tie: Houston at Texas, Monday. Winner reaches ALDS; loser to AL wild-card game.
The tiebreaker game would be played in Arlington, as the Rangers won the season series 13-6.
In this scenario, the winner would move on to the ALDS and the Yankees would host the loser of the AL West tiebreaker in the wild-card game as long as New York finishes with 88 or more wins. If the Yankees are also at 87 wins, the three-way tie breaker explained below would come into play.
If Rangers and Astros tie, and Yankees also finish with same record: Houston at Texas, Monday. Winner to ALDS; loser to AL wild-card game.
In the event that these three teams all finish with 87 wins, Texas would host Houston in a tiebreaker to determine the AL West champion. The loser of that game would play the Yankees in the wild-card game with the location of that matchup determined by regular-season head-to-head record:
? If Texas wins AL West tiebreaker: Rangers advance to ALDS. Astros host Yankees in wild-card game because of 5-2 head-to-head record against New York this season.
? If Houston wins AL West tiebreaker: Astros advance to ALDS. Rangers host Yankees in wild-card game because of 4-3 head-to-head record against New York this season.
AL wild card
If Astros, Angels and Twins tie: Likely Minnesota at Houston, Monday; Los Angeles at Minnesota-Houston winner, Tuesday.
A three-way tie for the second wild card would create a tiebreak scenario allowing the Angels to pick one of two options based on their superior record against the other two teams involved. The Angels had a better combined mark against the others (14-12) than Houston (13-12) or Minnesota (5-8).
Given the choice of playing two tiebreaker games at home or one on the road, Los Angeles would most likely choose the latter. If they do, the Astros would host the Twins on Monday -- because Houston has the next-best record against the teams involved -- with the winner then hosting the Angels the next day.
If the Angels chose to play twice, they would likely play a home game against the Twins on Monday and the winner would host the Astros on Tuesday.
In this scenario, the AL wild-card game would be pushed back a day to Wednesday.
If Astros and Angels tie: Los Angeles at Houston, Monday.
Houston would host the tiebreaker by virtue of 10-9 series win.
If Angels and Twins tie: Minnesota at Los Angeles, Monday.
Angels would host the tiebreaker because they won season series with the Twins 5-2.
If Astros and Twins tie: Houston at Minnesota, Monday.
The Twins would host the tiebreaker game. Because Houston and Minnesota each won three of their head-to-head meetings this season, intradivision record would come into play, with the Twins' 40-33 mark against AL Central teams better than the Astros' 38-38 record against AL West foes.
If Yankees and Astros tie: New York at Houston (in AL wild-card game), Tuesday.
This scenario comes into play if the Yankees and Astros finish with 87 wins AND the Rangers win at least once more to claim the AL West title.
In this case, Houston would host New York in the wild-card game because of the Astros' 4-3 head-to-head matchup advantage over the Yankees.
