8. Cleveland Indians, 85-61, 2nd in the AL Central (ranked 5th last week)
The Indians will likely be without Corey Kluber for the rest of the season now after suffering another setup back while trying to recover from a fracture in his forearm. Losing a veteran like Kluber is always a massive blow to a playoff team, but the Indians are one of the few teams who could possibly survive a loss like that with plenty of pitchers thriving at the moment.
But with the salary cap situation in Cleveland, the reports of the Indians considering moving their franchise player Francisco Lindor to help their budget. Of course, a deal like this won’t happen until the off-season, but with the Indians just a half-game back of the Athletics for the final Wild Card spot they’re far from out of things yet. But this could be the Indians last run at the postseason before reconfiguring their roster to fix their financial situation.
7. Oakland Athletics, 85-60, 2nd in the AL West (ranked 7th last week)
Oakland is currently facing Houston this week in their final regular-season match-up sitting 9.5 games back in the AL West, but are clinging to a half-game over the Indians for the final AL Wild Card spot.
The A’s offense can explode at any time with bats like Matt Chapman, Khris Davis, and Matt Olson but their rotation is sneaky good. With arms like Mike Fiers, Chris Bassitt, and Brett Anderson having great seasons on their own, Oakland has quietly added lefty Sean Manaea back into the rotation, who’s made two starts with a 0.75 ERA. On top of that, they’ve called up their two best pitching prospects in AJ Puk and Jesus Luzardo, giving the A’s a ton of pitching depth they lacked essentially all season. Add in All-Star closer Liam Hendriks and Oakland’s strong bullpen ad this team looks built for a postseason run.