NL Wild Card update: Saturday, Sept 16

The MLB postseason race is heating up, and all eyes are on the very tight Wild Card races in each league — but particularly the NL. While the Senior Circuit’s divisional races are more or less sewn up — barring a meltdown from Milwaukee down the stretch — the Wild Card chase is still a total toss-up, with five teams all within 2.5 games of each other for the final two spots. (And with the way the Phillies have been playing of late, who knows, maybe the top spot could be in play too.) There’s so much to be settled between now and the rest of the year, so here’s a look at the up-to-the-minute NL Wild Card standings on Saturday, September 16.

NL Wild Card standings, September 16

1st Wild Card: Philadelphia Phillies — 80-67, +4.0
2nd Wild Card: Chicago Cubs — 78-70, +1.5
3rd Wild Card: Arizona Diamondbacks — 77-72, —

Cincinnati Reds — 77-72, —*
Miami Marlins — 76-72, 0.5 GB
San Francisco Giants — 75-72, 1.0 GB

*Note: Arizona holds the tiebreaker over Cincinnati due to winning the season series

Does anyone want to make the playoffs here? The Cubs certainly don’t seem like they do, dropping the series opener against the D-backs on Friday night for their third straight loss — and falling to just two games up in the loss column on the Arizona/Cincy/Miami group just below them. Chicago remains the favorite to hold on to the second Wild Card spot, while the race for the third remains far too close to call. Cincinnati and Miami notched big wins last night against the Mets and Braves, respectively, while the Giants let Logan Webb down yet again in a 3-2 walk-off loss to the Rockies.