AL Wild Card Race: Predicting Final Standings for Historic Postseason Chase

We are down to the final eight days of the 2012 Major League Baseball season. There are still five teams battling it out for the two Wild Card spots in the American League, all of them within five games of each other. 

Given the nature of the regular season, and this postseason chase in particular, it would not be a surprise to see complete chaos at the top with at least three teams tied for those final two spots when the regular season ends. 

In an effort to try and sort out the madness, here is a look at our final predictions for the standings after all 162 games have been played, as well as a few notes on why we went the way we did. 

PREDICTED STANDINGS	PREDICTED RECORD
1. Baltimore Orioles	92-70
2.Tampa Bay Rays*	90-72
3. Oakland A's	90-72
4. Los Angeles Angels	89-73
5. Detroit Tigers	88-74

*Rays win a one-game playoff against Oakland

As you can see, things are going to remain cluttered virtually all the way through the end of the season. Given the schedules for all these teams, I don't see anyone really pulling away. 

The Orioles currently occupy the top spot with a record of 88-66. Other than a strong bullpen and the sheer randomness of them winning virtually every one-run or extra-inning game they play, I have no idea how they are doing this, but you can't deny that they are doing it. 

Their schedule before the final series lines up favorably, as they play Toronto and Boston, two teams who really stopped playing baseball about a month ago. That last series of the year with Tampa Bay will be fascinating, but even in a worst-case scenario they are 3.5 games ahead of the Angels and 4.5 ahead of Tampa Bay. 

It will take a lot of things to go wrong for the Orioles to fall out of the postseason. It wouldn't shock me, but I can no longer deny they are probably going to the playoffs. 

The A's get hurt just because of their schedule, though that could easily change if the Rangers clinch the American League West fast enough. They have six games against the Rangers, including the last series of the year, and three against Seattle. 

If the A's can come out of that with a record close to .500, they could get in with 90-91 wins. 

The Angels have been so inconsistent this season. They do have six games left with Seattle, but a three-game series with the Rangers sandwiched in the middle makes me very nervous that they will be able to win enough to get to 90 wins. 

Call me crazy, but I am still buying into the Rays making a run. I know they can't score, but their pitching and defense is so good that there is no reason to think they won't go 8-1 or 7-2 over the final nine games. They are currently on a five-game winning streak, which followed a four-game losing streak, so you really never know what you will get with this team. 

Detroit has the easiest schedule of the five teams on the list, with six games against Kansas City and three against Minnesota.

However, the Tigers have too many teams in front of them and too much ground to make up to get into the Wild Card. Their best bet has always been the American League Central. 

Ironically, the Tigers will be looking for help from the Rays, who play a four-game series with the White Sox starting on Thursday. 

These are the predicted standings today. The beauty of baseball is if you ask tomorrow, everything will look completely different.  

Follow @adamwells1985