The Arbitrary ChuckJerry

The Yankees are currently out of the playoff picture, but are playing really well recently and they have lots of outs, to put it into poker terms, for making the playoffs. They are 1.5 games behind both Boston and Cleveland for the division lead and the wild card race respectively. There are basically three scenarios that could pan out that would put the Yankees into playoff position.

1) The Yankees catch the Indians for the wild card lead and not the Red Sox. This is the least likely in my opinion because the Indians have been the best team hands down since the all star break and if they were to catch the Indians they would most likely have to beat the Red Sox in the final series of the season to do it. That leads to the next scenario.

2) The Yankees catch the Red Sox for the division lead. If the Yankees were to catch the Red Sox and take over the division lead it wouldn't make a difference if they caught the Indians or not. If they did catch the Indians it would most likely be at the expense of the Red Sox so it's really an all or nothing deal.

3) The Yankees do not catch either the Indians or Red Sox, but the White Sox completely collapse in the last two weeks leaving the Red Sox and Indians atop their respective divisions and the Yankees with the wild card. In my opinion this is the most likely scenario. This probably still entails the Yankees having to win 2 out of 3 at least from Boston to end the season, but they wouldn't absolutely need a sweep if this pans out.

The White Sox play Cleveland 6 more times in the next two weeks and currently hold only a 3.5 game lead, down from 15 games nary a month ago. The White Sox have lost 7 of 9 and can't get out of their own way on the field these days. I would not be shocked if they just imploded. They play Cleveland 6 times, Minnesota 4 times, both good teams, and Detroit 3 times, a good spoiler team especially if they get help.

The Yankees play Baltimore 8 times and the Blue Jays 3 more times before they see the Red Sox again. All of this is contingent on the Yankees continuing to play well, but if they do that, they've got a shot.

Boston has played poorly against the Blue Jays this season and play them in a 4 game series leading up to the Yankee series. If they limp into the series with the Yankees, then the Yanks may actually be holding the cards at that point.

This is all wishful thinking at this point because of the 4 teams in the race, Cleveland, Chicago, Boston and New York, the Yankees are on the outside looking in. It seems like the Anaheim and Oakland thing is only going to play out in that division, as the one who does not win isn't in good shape for the wild card.