As you know, the Cubs hold the tiebreaker over the three teams closest to them in the Wild Card race, the Phillies, Diamondbacks and Padres.
This is extremely important because the Cubs are now tied with the Phillies entering Friday’s action after the Phillies beat the Mets Thursday, and lead the Padres by one game, as San Diego also won on Thursday.
The Cubs lead the Diamondbacks by five games and thus the magic number for the Cubs clinching a Wild Card berth is four.
The magic number for the Cubs to clinch the first wild card over the Phillies is 9. But for the Phillies to surpass the Cubs, their number is 10, due to the tiebreaker.
Tankathon has the Phillies with the toughest strength of remaining schedule of the four clubs (third). The Padres are ninth, Cubs 14th, and Diamondbacks 16th, with nine games remaining for all four teams.
Here are the remaining schedules for all four Wild Card contenders. Home games in boldface.
Cubs, 9 games (3 home, 6 road)
at Reds (3), Marlins (3), at Red Sox (3)
The Reds are in disarray at this point, having lost eight of their last 10. The Marlins are just 31-44 on the road, though they did just take two of three from the D-backs in Phoenix.
The interesting series is the last one, as both the Cubs and Red Sox will be jockeying for postseason positioning.
Phillies, 9 games (6 home, 3 road)
at Mets (3), Brewers (3), Rays (3)
The Phillies do get to finish their season with a six-game homestand — but with both series against the teams with the best records in their respective leagues.
So hopefully the Brewers do the Cubs a solid and beat up on the Phillies. And Cubs fans will have to hold their noses and root for the Mets this weekend.
Padres, 9 games (6 home, 3 road)
Marlins (3), at Dodgers (3), Diamondbacks (3)
As noted, the Marlins did win a series in Arizona, and they will be facing the Padres on the road just before heading to Wrigley.
Diamondbacks, 9 games (3 home, 6 road)
Yankees (3), at Rockies (3), at Padres (3)
The D-backs play a pair of teams, one in a postseason spot and fighting for one. In between they face one team way out of it. The D-backs and Padres have split their first 10 games this year, and the teams also have split at each other’s parks, 2-2 in San Diego and 3-3 in Arizona.
If Arizona is eliminated before that final weekend (or even if they aren’t), they could help out the Cubs by defeating the Padres.
Fasten your seat belts!
