Photo: Doug Gray
Tuesday evening did not go the way of the Cincinnati Reds. The Pittsburgh Pirates scored four points in the 2nd inning and held up for a 4-2 victory. It got worse for the Reds from there when the Chicago Cubs blew a 5-run lead in a loss for the New York Mets. Two hours later, the Los Angeles Dodgers blew a 4-run lead and lost during a walk-off hit of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
All of this together means that the Reds are now a game of the Mets for the last Wildcard spot and connected to Arizona. Cincinnati still keeps the tiebreak over both teams when there is a draw with a club (or both together with the Reds) at the end of the year.
The Tiebreaker is great because the Reds just have to end in a draw, while both New York and Arizona have to end up with a victory more than Cincinnati. Of course the Mets actually had a victory than the Reds at the moment.
Cincinnati has to be opposite the Pirates on Wednesday and Thursday before he goes to Milwaukee to end the season with a 3-game road trip. New York still has two games in Chicago against the Cubs before they go to Miami to take on the Marlins to end their regular season. Arizona plays two more games against the Dodgers in Phoenix before going to the West for a 3-game regular season final against the San Diego Padres.
Fangraphs Playoff Opportunities If I type this at 12:45 pm, the Mets have at 67.3%. Cincinnati, one game back, is 21.1%. Arizona, who has an identical 80-77 record as the Reds, has an 11.3% chance of making the play-offs. On 77-80, both the Marlins and the cardinals still live technically in the play-off race. They have a 0.3% and a chance of 0.0% according to the opportunities of Fangraphs.
Everyone still has five games. Cincinnati has to win more than the Mets, but at least the record of the Diamondbacks correspond to the rest of the road when they go.
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