The Twins did their job by beating the Marlins 8-3 on Wednesday night in Minneapolis, but they got no help as the two teams chasing them – the Royals and Tigers – both won with two more to go with four days to go Games ahead in the regular season.

The Twins play the Marlins on Thursday at 6:40 p.m. CT. This is important because the Tigers face the Rays at 12:10 p.m. CT and the Royals face the Nationals at 12:05 p.m. CT. That means the Twins know how far behind they are — either 2.5 or 1.5 games behind one or both — when they step on the diamond.

Before any teams play on Thursday, the Royals and Tigers are poised to hold on and secure the final two wild cards in the American League playoff race. Both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs give the Twins about a 1 in 5 chance of pulling off a miracle over the final four days and making the playoffs.

Pitching is always key and the Twins are hoping that left-hander Patrick Corbin will outperform right-hander Michael Wacha in tonight’s game between the Nationals and Royals. The problem is that Corbin has a 6.14 ERA in 22 innings this month, while Wacha has a 1.99 ERA in 22 innings this month.

Reese Olson pitches for the Tigers and is tackled by Rays left-hander Tyler Alexander, who helped Tampa beat the Tigers in April.