Biggest Winners and Losers of MLB Playoff Races, Week 24

Playoff races around baseball heated up yet again last week, with two divisions undergoing changes at the top of the standings and multiple teams still jockeying for position in each league's respective wild-card race.

Yet just when we thought we knew who the major players were going to be heading into the home stretch, the Washington Nationals seemingly emerged from nowhere and now pose a major threat to the three National League Central teams (Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and St. Louis) that were widely assumed to have three of the five playoff spots in the Senior Circuit all but locked up.

In the American League, injuries continue to decimate an already thin New York lineup, leaving the Bronx Bombers mere inches from falling out of contention altogether.

Let's take a look back at the biggest winners and losers from last week and what those results could mean for the rest of the season.

*Unless otherwise noted, all statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and are current through games of Sept. 15.

Winners: Washington Nationals

Weekly Record: 6-1

Don't look now, but here come the Washington Nationals. 

Washington feasted on mediocre competition, outscoring New York and Philadelphia by a combined 35 runs (47 to 12). Eight games out of a wild-card berth when games ended on Sept. 8, the team now sits only 4.5 games out.

Notable Performers

Player	BA	OPS	XBH (HR)	RBI	R	SB
Ryan Zimmerman	.367	1.358	7 (5)	6	10	1
Wilson Ramos	.290	.968	4 (4)	10	5	0
Player	ERA	WHIP	IP	H	BB	K
Dan Haren	0.00	0.33	6.0	1	1	8
Gio Gonzalez	2.40	0.93	15.0	10	4	13

Losers: Texas Rangers

Weekly Record: 0-6

No team took a bigger beating last week than the Texas Rangers.

Swept at home by both Pittsburgh and Oakland, the Rangers dropped to 5.5 games behind the A's in the AL West and into a tie with Tampa Bay for the first AL wild-card berth, a team that Texas opens a crucial four-game road series against on Monday.

The Rangers bats went completely silent last week, with only two players, Adrian Beltre and A.J. Pierzynski, collecting more than seven total bases over the six games that the team played—a silence that wasted another pair of terrific outings by Yu Darvish.

Should Texas continue its swoon against the Rays (and Kansas City after that), the perennial playoff participant could find itself on the outside of the playoff race looking in by the time this week comes to an end.

Notable Performers

Player	BA	OPS	XBH (HR)	RBI	R	SB
Adrian Beltre	.375	.840	1 (0)	2	1	0
A.J. Pierzynski	.318	.815	3 (0)	2	2	0
Player	ERA	WHIP	IP	H	BB	K
Yu Darvish	1.29	0.71	14.0	8	2	16
Alexi Ogando	0.00	0.27	3.2	0	1	4

Winners: Cleveland Indians

Weekly Record: 5-2

Not even dropping two of their three games against division rival and fellow wild-card contender Kansas City could make the Cleveland Indians one of last week's biggest losers. The Indians picked up 1.5 games in the wild-card chase and now sit a mere half-game behind Tampa Bay and Texas for a postseason berth.

Former All-Star Asdrubal Cabrera finally showed a pulse at the plate for the first time all season, Ubaldo Jimenez looked like the pitcher that the Indians thought they acquired two years ago and with only three games left against playoff contenders this season—a three-game series at Kansas City that begins on Monday—the Indians control their playoff destiny.

Notable Performers

Player	BA	OPS	XBH (HR)	RBI	R	SB
Carlos Santana	.423	1.055	1 (1)	4	5	1
Asdrubal Cabrera	.273	1.152	4 (4)	7	5	1
Player	ERA	WHIP	IP	H	BB	K
Danny Salazar	0.00	1.64	3.2	4	2	9
Ubaldo Jimenez	0.59	1.04	15.1	15	1	18

Losers: Cincinnati Reds

Weekly Record: 2-4

With things as close as they are in the NL Central, dropping games within the division—especially to the two teams that are out of the playoff race, Chicago and Milwaukee—is the last thing that a contender can afford.

Yet that's exactly what happened to the Cincinnati Reds last week, as they lost two games on Pittsburgh and St. Louis in the division while watching Washington pick up 3.5 games on them in the wild-card race. 

Of Cincinnati's 12 remaining games, six come against the Pirates, including a three-game series that begins on Friday. With winnable series against Houston and New York also on tap, the Reds can ill-afford another week of losing.

Notable Performers

Player	BA	OPS	XBH (HR)	RBI	R	SB
Joey Votto	.429	1.099	2 (1)	4	1	1
Todd Frazier	.333	.956	2 (1)	3	2	0
Player	ERA	WHIP	IP	H	BB	K
Bronson Arroyo	2.70	1.05	13.1	10	4	7
Mike Leake	0.00	1.41	5.2	4	4	6

Winners: Oakland Athletics

Weekly Record: 5-1

After sweeping Texas to end the week, picking up five games on the Rangers in the AL West standings, the Oakland A's second consecutive division crown is all but a formality at this point.

The A's don't face another playoff contender for the rest of the season, with Los Angeles, Minnesota and Seattle all that's left on the schedule. While the Mariners have won 10 of the 16 games that they've played against the A's this year, the two teams don't meet until the last series of the season. Oakland will have the division wrapped up well before they meet.

Notable Performers

Player	BA	OPS	XBH (HR)	RBI	R	SB
Josh Donaldson	.444	1.449	3 (2)	6	8	1
Yoenis Cespedes	.316	1.065	4 (1)	9	3	0
Player	ERA	WHIP	IP	H	BB	K
Bartolo Colon	0.00	1.00	8.0	7	1	7
A.J. Griffin	1.29	0.43	7.0	2	1	8

Losers: New York Yankees

Weekly Record: 3-4

Even after taking three out of four from Baltimore to start the week, the New York Yankees couldn't sustain their success against Boston and finished the week exactly where they started it: behind the Orioles and Indians in the race for one of the two wild-card spots, currently occupied by Tampa Bay and Texas.

Losing Brett Gardner to an oblique strain was yet another major blow to the New York's playoff chances. The speedy outfielder may be out of action for the rest of the regular season, making the team's chances of landing in the playoffs that much more remote.

The Yankees will need a strong showing against Toronto and San Francisco this week if they are to keep hope alive, something that is far easier said than done considering the state of the team at the moment.

Notable Performers

Player	BA	OPS	XBH (HR)	RBI	R	SB
Robinson Cano	.296	.863	4 (1)	6	3	0
Alex Rodriguez	.274	1.044	4 (2)	4	4	0
Player	ERA	WHIP	IP	H	BB	K
Joba Chamberlain	0.00	1.00	2.0	0	2	2
Mariano Rivera	2.70	0.60	3.1	2	0	1

Winners: Pittsburgh Pirates

Weekly Record: 6-1

The Pittsburgh Pirates bounced back in a big way after being one of the biggest losers in Week 23, sweeping Texas and taking three of four from Chicago to erase the 1.5-game deficit that they faced in the NL Central and pull into a tie with St. Louis atop the division.

Jeff Locke continued his strong play since returning from a brief minor league exile, throwing the ball as he did earlier this season, when he was among the league leaders in ERA. Meanwhile, rookie sensation Gerrit Cole has shown no signs of slowing down as we get deeper into September.

The three-game series that Pittsburgh opens against Cincinnati on Friday will be a crucial one for the Pirates to win, if for no other reason than to put some distance between themselves and the Reds, who currently sit only 3.5 games behind them.

Notable Performers

Player	BA	OPS	XBH (HR)	RBI	R	SB
Ryan Zimmerman	.367	1.358	7 (5)	6	10	1
Wilson Ramos	.290	.968	4 (4)	10	5	0
Player	ERA	WHIP	IP	H	BB	K
Gerrit Cole	0.00	0.33	14.0	8	5	16
Jeff Locke	1.29	0.57	7.0	3	1	5

Winners: Boston Red Sox

Weekly Record: 5-1

Going 5-1 in a given week is always a good thing, but when it comes against two division foes, including a sweep of your most hated rivals, winning is that much sweeter.

The Boston Red Sox took two out of three from Tampa Bay, effectively ending the Rays' chances of catching them in the AL East, and swept the Yankees, perhaps inserting the final nails into the coffin that holds New York's 2013 campaign.

Clay Buchholz is back in a big way, making an already solid Boston rotation that much more dangerous and giving the team a massive lift heading into the home stretch of the season.

With Baltimore and Toronto on tap this week, the Red Sox can put even more distance between themselves and the rest of the division, moving that much closer to the team's first AL East crown since 2007.

Notable Performers

Player	BA	OPS	XBH (HR)	RBI	R	SB
Mike Napoli	.333	1.190	3 (1)	4	2	0
Daniel Nava	.500	1.076	2 (0)	10	5	0
Player	ERA	WHIP	IP	H	BB	K
Clay Buchholz	0.00	0.91	11.0	5	5	9
Jon Lester	1.13	0.63	8.0	3	2	5