American League Wild Card standings: Mariners within a game of Royals, Athletics

The Kansas City Royals are playing their biggest games of the season this weekend against the Detroit Tigers. The focus of that series is first place in the American League Central, where the Tigers currently hold a 1.5 game lead.

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Besides their standing in the division, the Royals have an extra sense of urgency because of what is happening with the teams around them in the American League Wild Card race. The Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners both have friendly match-ups this weekend, against the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros, respectively.

If they handle their business against those lowly teams, something they both did on Friday night, then the Royals could potentially find themselves out of the playoffs completely on Monday if they have a bad weekend against the Tigers at home. The onus will be on Ned Yost and the boys to bounce back from a gruesome 10-1 loss on Friday night.

Here’s where the American League Wild Card standings are this morning: three teams within one game.

1. Oakland Athletics – 84-69, +0.5 WCGB
2. Kansas City Royals – 83-69, — WCGB
3. Seattle Mariners – 83-70, 0.5 WCGB
4. Cleveland Indians – 79-74, 4.5 WCGB
5. New York Yankees – 79-74, 4.5 WCGB
6. Toronto Blue Jays – 77-76, 6.0 WCGB

As for the fringes of this race, the Yankees have won three straight as they try to pull off the improbable. Those hopes might have taken a significant hit on Friday with the loss of Jacoby Ellsbury to a hamstring injury. The Indians blew a ninth inning lead against the Minnesota Twins and missed the chance to gain a game on the Royals.

This is the best race in baseball this month, with lots of pressure on the top three teams to meet the promise offered by this season for each of them.

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