Could the 2016 season go down as one of the best playoff races in memory?
If the current landscape is any indicator, the answer is a resounding yes. It's not just one race, either. It's pretty much all of them in the American League. Every seed, every spot. Let's take a look how things stand, entering Saturday's action -- which is eight weeks and one day from the end of the season.
AL East
Orioles, 62-46
Blue Jays, 63-47
Red Sox, 60-48, two games back
A three-team race? YES! It could get a bit ridiculous, too, because the SportsLine projection model has all three teams finishing nearly within a win. Through simulation averages, the Orioles end with 92.7 wins, the Blue Jays 92.6 and the Red Sox 91.6.
There are implications outside the division here, though, due to the two AL wild-card spots and how competitive the entire American League has been and should continue to be. We'll circle back to that.
AL Central
Indians, 61-46
Tigers, 60-49, two games back
On July 20, the Tigers were 7 1/2 games out. They are 11-3 since then while the Indians are 5-8, so things have gotten interesting. SportsLine still likes the Indians here, with an 85.1 percent chance of winning the Central, but this still bears watching.
AL West
Rangers, 63-47
Astros, 57-52, 5 1/2 games back
OK, so this one isn't quite as exciting. The Astros did beat the Rangers on Friday night, however, and have two more chances this weekend to make things a bit more interesting.
Speaking of interesting, how about this ...
American League
Orioles, 62-46
Rangers, 63-47
Blue Jays, 63-47
Indians, 61-46, -0.5
Red Sox, 60-48, -2
Tigers, 60-49, -2.5
The Tigers are less than a standard series (three games) from having the best record in the entire American League, but as things stand right now, they'd miss out on the playoffs. To see six teams bunched up like this is astounding at this point in the season, and this isn't even getting into the Astros being 3 1/2 back of the second wild card, or the Mariners being five back or the Yankees being 5 1/2 back.
In all, SportsLine projects seven teams to win between 85 and 93 games in the American League.
So, yes, this very much could be a race for the ages, with a large chunk of it being determined on a head-to-head basis.
Key remaining matchups
| Team / Games vs. | BAL | BOS | CLE | DET | HOU | TEX | TOR |
| Orioles | --- | 9 | 3 | 4 | 6 | ||
| Red Sox | 9 | --- | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||
| Indians | 1 | --- | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |
| Tigers | 3 | 4 | 7 | --- | 3 | ||
| Astros | 4 | 4 | --- | 8 | 3 | ||
| Rangers | 4 | 3 | 8 | --- | |||
| Blue Jays | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | --- |
The Astros have eight games against the Rangers, with five of the eight coming in Houston and two of those games coming this weekend, so they have a chance to put the screws on the division leader.
Starting with the makeup game against the Indians on Aug. 15, the Red Sox have seven straight road games against these contenders (two in Baltimore, four in Detroit). Speaking of being on the road, the Red Sox will play 19 games away from Fenway Park in September and October and just nine at home.
While the Tigers face the Indians both at home and on the road, they also play both the Orioles and Red Sox at home, which could be a big deal when it comes to deciding the wild card teams and potentially seeding in the Wild Card Game.
In all, 65 games between those seven teams will shape the entire American League playoff race, and it's still possible a Mariners or Yankees team works its way back into the mix.
Might things go down to the last day of the season? That's Oct. 2. MLB is starting every single game at essentially the same time (the variance is only 3:05 p.m. ET to 3:15 p.m. ET). If so, the Red Sox host the Blue Jays. Otherwise it's scoreboard-watching time, because every other AL contender is facing off against a non-contender.
Still, that would be a ton of fun. We're actually staring at eight weeks of that.
