This week’s breakdown of the American League wild-card race will focus on math.
The Twins, who currently hold the second wild-card spot, are on pace for 84.5 wins this season, so let’s bump that up to 85. A lot can happen in the final four weeks of the season, but if we use 85 wins as the goal for the Royals making the playoffs, they will have to go 18-9 to finish the season.
That doesn’t guarantee that the Royals would be on the only team to get to that number, and FanGraphs says there is an 18 percent chance of a two-way tie for the second wild-card spot.