The final day of the 2018 regular season has arrived. Several National League postseason spots remain up for grabs and, as per recent tradition, every game begins at approximately 3 p.m. ET on Sunday to maximize drama. It’s going to be a fun day, baseball fans. Here’s everything you need to know about Sunday’s MLB action.
Sunday’s scores
Sunday’s clinching scenarios
Everything in the American League is settled. The matchups, the seeding, everything. That is not the case in the National League. Two division titles and both wild card spots remain up for grabs. Here are Sunday’s clinching scenarios:
- Brewers win NL Central with a win over Tigers and a Cubs loss to Cardinals
- Cubs win NL Central with a win over Cardinals and a Brewers loss to Tigers
- Dodgers win NL West with a win over Giants and a Rockies loss to Nationals
- Rockies win NL West with a win over Nationals and a Dodgers loss to Giants
The Brewers, Cubs, Rockies, and Dodgers have all clinched a postseason spot. It’s just a question of who wins the division and who settles for a wild card spot. If the Brewers and Cubs and/or Dodgers and Rockies tie atop their respective divisions, there will be a Game 163 tiebreaker(s) on Monday. Here are the tiebreaker scenarios:
- Brewers at Cubs (winner wins NL Central, loser hosts Wild Card Game)
- Rockies at Dodgers (winner win NL West, loser is road team in Wild Card Game)
To get to the NLDS, it is possible the Dodgers will have to win the regular season finale Sunday in San Francisco, win a tiebreaker game Monday in Los Angeles, and win the Wild Card Game Tuesday in Chicago or Milwaukee. Good gravy.
One or both tiebreaker games could be necessary Monday. Or neither! Given everything that has to happen for the NL Central and NL West titles to be clinched Sunday, I’m feeling pretty good about baseball being played Monday. Should be fun.
Yelich has a chance at Triple Crown
Thanks to a monster September, Brewers outfielder and MVP candidate Christian Yelich comes into Sunday with a chance to win the first Triple Crown in the National League since Hall of Famer Joe Medwick with the 1937 Cardinals. Here’s where Yelich sits in the Triple Crown categories:
- Batting average: .324 (leads by 14 points)
- Home runs: 36 (tied with Matt Carpenter for NL lead)
- Runs batted in: 109 (trails Javier Baez by two for NL lead)
The batting title is in the bag. Hitting a homer and driving in three runs to win the home run and RBI titles outright will take some effort, plus there’s always the possibility Carpenter goes deep and Baez drives in some runs Sunday, which will make things more difficult for Yelich. That said, Yelich has had at least one home run and 3 RBI three times in his last six games, so it is definitely doable.
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