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    • The wildcard race in the Netherlands is about to begin
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    The wildcard race in the Netherlands is about to begin

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

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    PHOENIX − It’s fun, chaotic and nerve-wracking, but an absolute nightmare for three traveling secretaries.

    While the six division races, along with the American League wild card field, are all decided, the National League wild card race is still in disarray.

    The San Diego Padres clinched the first wild-card spot and home-field advantage in the wild-card round with their 5-3 win Friday night over the Arizona Diamondbacks, leaving three teams competing for the final two spots.

    And no one has the slightest idea who will continue playing in October and who will stay at home.

    The New York Mets (87-71), Atlanta (87-71) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (88-72) are tied with two games left after 184 days of the regular season.

    Check that out.

    There are still three days left.

    Well, maybe.

    It’s so confusing that these teams don’t know how many games they have left to play, let alone know where to tell their pilot to go on Monday.

    The three teams are in full control of their destiny without relying on anyone to lose, except for Arizona, the team with the most wins in the trio.

    If either Atlanta or the Mets win their remaining four games, they are in.

    If Arizona wins its remaining two games against San Diego, participation is all but certain, but not entirely guaranteed.

    Let’s say the Mets win their next two games in Milwaukee, Atlanta wins their next two against Kansas City, and Arizona wins their next two against the Padres. That just guarantees that Monday’s bizarre day will have a significant impact.

    The Mets and Atlanta are scheduled to play a doubleheader at Truist Park in Atlanta, making up for games postponed this week due to Hurricane Helene, assuming the games have playoff implications.

    The only way the games wouldn’t be necessary is if the Diamondbacks lose their last two games and the Mets and Atlanta win their next two games. That would leave the D-backs sitting on the outside looking in as both teams are two games behind, with New York and Atlanta each holding the tiebreaker advantage over Arizona.

    Now, if the D-Backs win both games, they’ll be in good shape, but could be stopped outside the gates of the postseason if Atlanta and the Mets split their doubleheader, giving all three teams a record of 90-72, with the D-Backs Backs win both games. supported losing the tiebreaker in a three-way tie.

    Did you understand all of that?

    “I think it’s an opportunity to be involved in something weirder, sillier and unprecedented,” Atlanta catcher Sean Murphy told reporters Friday. “You know, I think a potential doubleheader before the playoffs is kind of fun. And yeah, I think embracing it is the only thing you can do.”

    The scenarios are so chaotic that even if the Diamondbacks clinched a postseason spot on Sunday, they’ll have to sit around on Monday and wait for the outcome of the New York-Atlanta games to know where they’re headed. If they win the second wild card spot, they will travel to San Diego for a best-of-three series at Petco Park. If they win the third wild card spot, they will travel to Milwaukee to play a team they have faced just seven times in the last week.

    The plan, the D-backs say, is to practice Monday at Chase Field, watch the Mets-Atlanta games in the background and hope to learn their destination sometime late in the afternoon when the playoffs begin Tuesday.

    For Atlanta and New York, they just hope they don’t have to play both games of the doubleheader on Monday. If you win, you actually lose, as the surviving team is left with a battered pitching staff heading into the Wild Card Series.

    That is, unless you’re Atlanta, where Cy Young favorite Chris Sale hasn’t pitched in nine days. They claim they will save him for an elimination game in hopes that he may not have to pitch until Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. Either that or they think he’s tired since his speed dropped 4 miles per hour on his last start.

    Hey, why not add a little spying to the drama while wondering how much effort the Padres will put in to beat the Diamondbacks, and the same goes for the Brewers to beat the Mets, and the Royals to beat to beat Atlanta.

    The Padres already have the first wild card spot and have nothing to gain against Arizona. The Royals clinched a playoff spot on Friday knowing they will face either Baltimore or Houston. And the Brewers are locked in as winners of the third division and cannot change their result.

    “We’ll get there in the next two days,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said in his office Friday evening. “These games are important, so we want to reflect the integrity of the entire race.

    “But we also want to make sure we are well taken care of and are preparing our pitching for Tuesday.

    That means the Padres will miss Michael King for Sunday’s game, making him a potential option to start in the Wild Card Series.

    They could also rest Luis Arraez, who is struggling with knee and thumb injuries, but with him fighting for his third straight title and Shohei Ohtani closing in on him, he insists he will play.

    The Diamondbacks, who have lost four of their last five games, don’t have that luxury. Manager Torey Lovullo says he doesn’t plan to use top player Zac Gallen on Sunday, but if the situation is serious, it’s all hands on deck.

    “We’ll be ready to go,” Lovullo said. “We know what we are fighting for. A lot of people ask me specific questions about the stability of our team. “Are we okay?” We are great. …

    “I can’t explain it. Sometimes baseball is a crazy game. “We didn’t get the win, but we’ll definitely do everything we can to get one (Saturday).”

    If the Diamondbacks do well, the Mets could be the underdogs looking in. They lost to Milwaukee 8-4, with their ace Sean Manaea on the mound, giving up a grand slam in the first inning.

    “We’ve been through a lot this year,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters, “and this is no different.”

    The hottest team in the trio is Atlanta, which has won six of its last seven games, including a 3-0 win over Kansas City in which Max Fried pitched 8 ⅔ dominant innings, striking out just three and striking out nine.

    “We had to win this game and I just wanted to make sure I let it all out,” Fried told reporters. “That was a big game. We had to win and we have to win every single game for the rest of the year. That’s why we play: meaningful baseball in September.”

    Even though the wildcard picture looks awfully bleak, Fried remains confident they’ll be playing again in October like old times.

    “We have a really great group there that believes and is extremely talented,” he said. “I’m confident we’ll win a lot of games and get into the playoffs.”

    A question remains.

    Who on earth will the other wild card team be?

    Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

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    Madoc Meredith
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