AL Wild Card picture after Guardians were handed olive branch thanks to losses by Blue Jays and White Sox 

Not much went right for the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday. Trade deadline acquisition Foster Griffin got lit up, the top of the offense was quiet around Chase DeLauter and Rico Garcia picked up a multi-inning save. 

Luckily for them, it was a rough Wednesday for the rest of the teams they’re chasing in the postseason picture. 

Earlier in the day the Blue Jays lost another winnable game against the Athletics by the tune of a 2-0 score, while the White Sox lost 4-2 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In fact, the only team chasing the Guardians in the Wild Card chase that picked up a win were the Orioles, who gained a full game by beating the Guardians. 

Pretty much everyone is off today outside of the Rangers and Mariners (more on that in a second), which means the Guardians are going to enter their weekend series against the Twins still in control of the American League’s final Wild Card spot. 

Although the Guardians were able to stay in control of their destiny by virtue of everyone else losing last night, they’re going to need to pick up some wins soon if they want to keep control of that spot.

The Guardians need to win their series against the Twins this weekend

The Guardians (74-73) now have a one-game lead over the Blue Jays for the American League’s final Wild Card spot along with a 1 1/2 game lead over the Rangers (pending tonight’s game). Their magic number to earn a Wild Card spot is 14. 

Both those leads are a bit deceiving, however, as the Guardians don’t have the tiebreaker against either club, so the Rangers and Blue Jays would earn a postseason post if the Guardians finished the regular season tied with either of them. 

If the Rangers win today they’d also be a game behind the Guardians for that Wild Card spot. The Orioles are three games back thanks to their series win over Cleveland, while the Twins (4 1/2 games back) and the Mariners (5 1/2 games) are on the fringes. 

Even though the Guardians hold one of the Wild Card spots, their best path to postseason may be via the American League Central, where they trail the White Sox by two games. 

Chicago had a golden opportunity to put the Guardians away this week thanks to Cleveland’s series loss to the Orioles, but Chicago dropped the final two games of its series against Pittsburgh and has gone 3-7 in its last 10. 

The White Sox currently hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Guardians, but that could change if the Guardians record a sweep in next week’s series between the two teams. 

The winner of the American League Central will likely earn a bye through the Wild Card Series thanks to the American League West’s collective struggles, so winning the division would come with another bonus. 

The rest of the American League gave the Guardians a mulligan this week, but they’re going to need to, at a minimum, win their series against the Twins this week if they want to keep controlling their postseason destiny.  

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