NL wildcard race comes to the extreme

PHOENIX − It’s fun, chaotic and nerve-wracking, but a complete nightmare for three traveling secretaries.

While the six division races are all decided along with the American League wild-card field, the National League wild-card race is still a muddle.

The San Diego Padres clinched the top wild card spot and home field advantage in the wild card round with their 5-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night, leaving three teams vying for the final two spots.

And no one has the slightest idea who will continue to play in October and who will stay home.

The New York Mets (87-71), Atlanta (87-71) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (88-72) are still tied for two days after 184 playing days in the regular season.

Check that.

There are three days left.

Well, maybe.

It’s so confusing that these teams don’t know how many games they have left to play, let alone have any idea where to tell their pilot to fly on Monday.

The three teams are in complete control of their fate without having to rely on anyone losing, with the exception of Arizona, the team with the most wins of the trio.

If Atlanta or the Mets win their remaining four games, they are in.

If Arizona wins its remaining two games against San Diego, it’s almost certain they’ll be in, but that’s not completely guaranteed.

Let’s say the Mets win their next two games in Milwaukee, Atlanta wins their next two games against Kansas City, and Arizona wins their next two games against the Padres, this alone guarantees that Monday’s bizarre day will have a significant impact.

The Mets and Atlanta are scheduled for a doubleheader at Truist Park in Atlanta, making up games postponed this week due to Hurricane Helene, provided the games have playoff implications.

The only way the games wouldn’t be necessary is if the Diamondbacks lose their last two games and the Mets and Atlanta win their next two games. That would leave the D-backs on the outside looking in, two games back from both teams, with New York and Atlanta each having the tiebreaker advantage over Arizona.

If the D-backs win both games, they’ll be sitting pretty, but could be stopped outside the pearly gates of the postseason if Atlanta and the Mets split their doubleheader, giving all three teams a 90-72 record, with the D -backs. backs lost the tiebreak in a three-way draw.

Do you have all that?

“I think it’s an opportunity to be involved in something stranger, crazier and unprecedented,” Atlanta catcher Sean Murphy told reporters on Friday. “You know, I think a potential doubleheader before the playoffs is kind of fun. And yes, I think embracing it is the only thing you can do.

The scenarios are so chaotic that even if the Diamondbacks have a postseason berth on Sunday, they will have to wait for the outcome of the New York-Atlanta games on Monday to know where they will go. If they win the second wild card spot, they will head to San Diego for a best-of-three series at Petco Park. If they win the third wild card spot, they will head to Milwaukee, where they will play a team they have faced seven times in the last week.

The plan, the D-backs say, is to practice Monday at Chase Field, watch the Mets-Atlanta games in the background and hope to learn their destination sometime in the late afternoon, with the playoffs Tuesday start.

For Atlanta and New York, they just hope they don’t have to play both games of the doubleheader on Monday. If you win, you essentially lose, leaving the surviving team before the wild card bracket with a battered pitching staff.

That is, unless you’re Atlanta, which hasn’t thrown Cy Young favorite Chris Sale in nine days. They claim they’re going to save him for an elimination game, hoping he doesn’t have to pitch until Game 1 of the wild-card series. Either that or they think he’s tired because his speed dropped by 6 km/h on his last start.

Hey, why not have a little spy on the drama while wondering how much effort the Padres will put in to beat the Diamondbacks, and the same goes for the Brewers to beat the Mets and the Royals to beat Atlanta.

The Padres already have the top wild card seed and have nothing to gain by beating Arizona. The Royals clinched a spot in the playoffs on Friday, knowing they will open against Baltimore or Houston. And the Brewers are the winner of the third division and cannot change their outcome.

“We’re going to work on it over the next two days,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said in his office Friday evening. “These games are important, so we want to reflect the integrity of the entire race.

“But we also want to make sure we’re taken care of, and we’re going to set up our pitching for Tuesday.

This means the Padres will pass on Michael King for Sunday’s game, making him a potential option to start in the wild-card series.

They can also rest Luis Arraez, who is dealing with knee and thumb injuries, but as he’s vying for his third consecutive batting title with Shohei Ohtani stalking him, he insists he’ll play.

The Diamondbacks, who have lost four of their last five games, don’t have that luxury. Manager Torey Lovullo says he does not plan to use top player Zac Gallen on Sunday, but if the situation is dire, all hands are on deck.

“We’ll be ready to go,” Lovullo said. “We know what we are fighting for. Many people ask me certain questions about the stability of our team. “Are you okay?” We are great. …

“I can’t explain it. Sometimes baseball is a crazy game. We didn’t get the win, but we’ll definitely do everything we can to get one (Saturday).”

If the Diamondbacks do well, the Mets could end up being the ones on the outside looking in. They lost to Milwaukee 8-4, with their ace Sean Manaea on the mound, and gave up a grand slam in the first inning.

“We’ve been through a lot this year,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters, “and this is no different.”

The most popular team among the trio is Atlanta, which has won six of its last seven games, including a 3-0 win over Kansas City, with Max Fried pitching 8 ⅔ dominant innings, yielding just three hits and striking out nine.

“We had to win this game and I wanted to make sure I left everything out there,” Fried told reporters. “This was a big match. We had to win and we have to win every game for the rest of the year. This is what we play for, meaningful baseball in September.”

Although the wildcard picture looks awfully murky, Fried remains confident they will play again in October, just like old times.

“We have a really great group there that believes and is extremely talented,” he said. I am confident that we will win a lot of games and reach the play-offs.”

One question remains.

Who in the world will that other wildcard team be?

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