Sunday's playoff scenarios
Yahoo! Sports' national baseball writer Jeff Passan is blogging Sunday's regular-season finales starting at Noon ET.
The St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros will be fighting over the last playoff berth, and two other division titles (the AL Central and NL West) will be at stake.
Here's what Passan is following:
NL Central
The Cardinals host the Brewers at 2:15 ET and can clinch the division title and No. 3 seed in the NL playoffs with a win OR an Astros loss (at the Braves, 1:05 ET). The NL Central champion will visit the NL West champion in a division series starting Tuesday.
If the Astros win AND Cardinals lose, the Cardinals host the Giants on Monday at 3:05 ET (ESPN2). If the Cardinals win, they win the NL Central.
If the Cardinals lose on Monday, the Astros and Cardinals will be tied at 83-79, forcing a one-game playoff at Houston (Tuesday 4:05 ET, TBS). The winner is the NL Central champion and visits the NL West champion Wednesday.
AL Central
The Detroit Tigers host the Royals at 1:05 ET and can clinch the division title and No. 2 seed in the AL playoffs with a win OR a Minnesota Twins loss (vs. the White Sox, 2:10 ET).
The Tigers won the season series against the Twins 11-8 and hold the tiebreaker if the teams finish tied. Therefore the Twins need a win AND a Tigers loss to win the division and the No. 2 seed.
The AL Central champion will host the No. 3 seed Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, and the wild card will visit the top-seeded New York Yankees on Tuesday.
NL West
The San Diego Padres visit the Diamondbacks at 4:40 ET and can clinch the division title and No. 2 seed in the NL playoffs with a win OR a Los Angeles Dodgers loss (at the Giants, 4:05 ET).
The Padres won the season series against the Dodgers 13-5 and hold the tiebreaker if the teams finish tied. Therefore the Dodgers need a win AND a Padres loss to win the division and the No. 2 seed.
The NL West champion will host the No. 3 seed NL Central champion on Tuesday. The wild card will visit the top-seeded New York Mets on Wednesday.
