Where do the Sox fall in AL Wild Card standings? originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Major League Baseball changed its playoff standards to allow three "wild card" teams into the playoffs. Each the National League and American League will automatically bid three teams, who are division leaders, and the next best three records.
As of this writing, the division leaders for the American league are the Houston Astros (AL West), the New York Yankees (AL East) and the Cleveland Guardians (AL Central).
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The next three best records in the AL are 80-62, owned by the Toronto Blue Jays, and 79-62, which are held each by the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays. After that, the Baltimore Orioles (74-67) are in the first chase spot and the White Sox (73-69) are in the second chase spot.
For the White Sox to make the playoffs, they have two options. First, they would have to make up the 6.5 game deficit they have on the Mariners and Rays to clinch the last wild card spot. Or, they need to make up their three game deficit on the Cleveland Guardians to overtake the AL Central lead and claim an automatic playoff nod.
The AL Central race has been a tight one since the start of the season. The White Sox, Guardians and Twins have all thrown their punches. Currently, the White Sox are in second place behind the Guardians with a sizeable gap (two games) on the Twins.
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As far as tie breakers, the White Sox need to sweep the remaining four games they have against the Guardians to own the tie breaker for the division. They are currently 6-9 against the Guardians this season.
For the wild card, the White Sox have the tie breaker over the Mariners and the Rays this season. But, they would need to make up 6.5 games in less than 20 games to activate the tie breaker for the final wild card spot.
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