It's time for magic numbers and scoreboard watching. For living and dying with every pitch of one-run games in the bottom of the ninth. For praying a little harder to the baseball gods for some divine intervention on behalf of your favorite contender.
Sort of.
While nothing has been officially clinched, we know the National League's five playoff teams will be the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals, while the Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays are all but locks to make the playoffs in the American League.
None of them are concerned about roadblocks right now.
The same can't be said for the Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins and Texas Ranger, five teams vying for two playoff spots—one wild-card berth and, for the Astros, Angels and Rangers, the AL West crown.
For those five teams, the path to the promised land is littered with roadblocks, some which will be more easily avoided than others.
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