Breaking down the NL wild card

In a wild weekend of baseball, the New York Mets swept Florida, the Chicago Cubs swept Pittsburgh and Arizona won 2 of 3 from the Dodgers, so all three division leaders extended their lead, meaning the best race remaining in baseball looks like it’s the NL wild card race.

Of course, if the Mets, Cubs or D’backs decide to choke over the next few days, this could change. But that’s the beauty of baseball — playoff races change everyday.

Your current NL wild card standings:

San Diego 85-70
Philadelphia 85-71
Colorado 84-72

So how did this race get so close all of a sudden? The Rockies swept the Padres over the weekend, putting them back in the race. The Rockies winning the wild card would be the most unexpected outcome out of all the races, as they’ve been under the radar the whole year.

A look at the contenders remaining schedules:

WEST (SD leads wild card)

ARIZONA (88-68): at Pittsburgh 3 games, at Colorado 3 games

SAN DIEGO (85-72): at San Francisco 3 games, at Milwaukee 4 games

COLORADO (84-70): at LA Dodgers 3 games, vs. Arizona 3 games

CENTRAL

CHICAGO CUBS (83-73): at Florida 3 games, at Cincinnati 3 games

MILWAUKEE (79-76): vs. St. Louis 3 games, vs. San Diego 4 games

EAST

NEW YORK METS (87-68): vs. Washington 3 games, vs. St. Louis 1 game, vs. Florida 3 games

PHILADELPHIA (85-71): vs. Atlanta 3 games, vs. Washington 3 games