3 Playoff Slots to be Decided Today - Probably

It is the last mini-sim of the season and 6 teams are fighting to the end, not bad for a odd 1906 National League era sim that is never to be repeated.

Here is what is at stake tonight, the final night of simming for the regular season.

NL East Champion
Probably the most exciting race left, the Grumman Hellcats and Kansas City Cobblers are each fighting 'till the very end, and each are in the midst of 5 game winning streaks.  The Hellcats hold a 1 game advantage and are clearly in the drivers seat.  They face The 116-loss Red Lectroids in their final two games with 20 game winner Mike Mussina starting game 1.

Kansas City is lined up to make it interesting though, they have their #1 and #2 starters on the mound for their final two games against 102-win Spanish Harlem.  It's a tall order but Spanish Harlem is a little banged so KC has a fighting chance.

Clear Edge:  Grumman

AL Wild Card Race
Despite finishing with a 5-5 stretch run, the Failures have been one of the best September teams in the American League, winning 14 of their last 22.  The Cole Trains have seemingly righted a sinking ship after a mid season 14-36 swoon, and have bested the Failures September record by 1 game to take a minuscule 1/2 game lead in the Wild Card Race.

The Failures have just 1 game left, against the Red Eagles, in a must win situation.  They're sending #3 starter Curt Schilling to the mound and in a bit of bad luck, the Red Eagles are lining up their post season rotation and are sending Garland Braxton to the mound.

The Cole Trains can't relax though, their last two games come against the team with the best record in ATB, the Valley Otters.  Fortuitously, the Cole Trains are perfectly lined up with the top-2 starters, including 20 game winner Nels Potter.

Edge:  Newport Beach

NL Wild Card Race
This is a fun one, and Inglorious still has a real chance, despite a losing record since August.  The overall situation - they are 1 game behind Kansas City for the Wild, who as mentioned, is 1 game behind Grumman for the NL East crown. 

Scenario 1:  KC Takes the NL East, and Grumman and Inglorious have to face off for a 1 game playoff.   This is highly unlikely but possible, and would only come about if both Inglorious and KC win their final two, and Grumman loses their final two.

This brings us to the more likely Scenario 2.  Grumman wins the NL East and Inglorious has to catch Kansas City for the wild card.  We saw above that the schedule makers were unkind to KC who have their last two games versus Spanish Harlem.  For Inglorious, they finish against the Walleyes, a solid team for sure, but not the quality as the Beaters.  They send Bill Swift and Camillo Pascual to the mound to pit their skills against Ted Lyons and Noah Syndegaard.

I guess there is a scenario 3 as well, where each of these teams finish with the same record.  If this happens, there will be a 1 game series on September 27th to decide the NL East, then on the 28th there will be another 1 game playoff to decide the Wild Card.  All playoff series would be pushed back to start on the 29th in this unlikely scenario.