Blake Snell Overtakes Joey Gallo for 1st Place in MLB The Show Players League

It's not quite October baseball, but the pennant race in the MLB The Show Players League was in full swing Monday.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Blake Snell and Texas Rangers slugger Joey Gallo were the only ones who had clinched playoff spots heading into the day of competition, and the former secured the No. 1 seed in the eight-team playoffs with wins over Jon Duplantier of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jeff McNeil of the New York Mets and Hunter Pence of the San Francisco Giants.

The league's official website noted the playoffs start Friday and will culminate in a best-of-five championship series.

Elsewhere, Bo Bichette of the Toronto Blue Jays, Gavin Lux of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dwight Smith Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles all had magic numbers of three or less entering play in the league, which is raising money for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Canada.

The tight race for the No. 8 spot also took center stage with Lucas Giolito of the Chicago White Sox holding on to a narrow half-game lead over Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs and a one-game lead over Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres and Amir Garrett of the Cincinnati Reds at the start of the day.

Here is a look at Monday's full set of results.

Bo Bichette, TOR

vs. Dahl (COL), 3-2 win

at Buttrey (LAA), 10-0 win

at Carpenter (STL), 4-3 loss

Ty Buttrey, LAA

vs. May (MIN), 4-2 win

vs. Bichette (TOR), 10-0 loss

at Kahnle (NYY), 2-1 win

Matt Carpenter, STL

vs. Bichette (TOR), 4-3 win

at Edwards Jr. (SEA), 1-0 win

David Dahl, COL

at Bichette (TOR), 3-2 loss

at Hoskins (PHI), 2-0 loss

vs. McNeil (NYM), 4-2 loss

Jon Duplantier, ARI

at May (MIN), 3-0 loss

vs. Snell (TB), 7-3 loss

Carl Edwards Jr., SEA

vs. Jackson (ATL), 4-3 loss

vs. Hader (MIL), 8-0 loss

at Lux (LAD), 5-2 win

at Carpenter (STL), 1-0 loss

Joey Gallo, TEX

at Soto (WSH), 4-3 loss

vs. Happ (CHC), 6-5 loss

Lucas Giolito, CWS

at McCullers Jr. (HOU), 6-3 win

vs. Soto (WSH), 3-1 loss

Niko Goodrum, DET

vs. Phillips (KC), 3-2 loss

at McCullers Jr. (HOU), 7-3 loss

Josh Hader, MIL

at Edwards Jr. (SEA), 8-0 win

vs. McCullers Jr. (HOU), 3-2 loss

Ian Happ, CHC

at Gallo (TEX), 6-5 win

at Stanek (MIA), 5-3 win

vs. Jackson (ATL), 4-2 win

vs. May (MIN), 3-2 loss

Rhys Hoskins, PHI

vs. Dahl (COL), 2-0 win

at Tatis Jr. (SD), 7-1 win

Luke Jackson, ATL

at Edwards Jr. (SEA), 4-3 win

vs. McCullers Jr. (HOU), 9-0 loss

vs. Happ (CHC), 4-2 loss

at Pence (SF), 1-0 loss

Tommy Kahnle, NYY

at Lux (LAD), 3-0 win

vs. Tucker (PIT), 1-0 loss

vs. Buttrey (LAA), 2-1 loss

Gavin Lux, LAD

vs. Kahnle (NYY), 3-0 loss

at McNeil (NYM), 6-3 loss

vs. Edwards Jr. (SEA), 5-2 loss

Trevor May, MIN

at Buttrey (LAA), 4-2 loss

at Snell (TB), 3-2 win

vs. Duplantier (ARI), 3-0 win

at Happ (CHC), 3-2 win

Lance McCullers Jr., HOU

vs. Giolito (CWS), 6-3 loss

at Jackson (ATL), 9-0 win

vs. Goodrum (DET), 7-3 win

at Hader (MIL), 3-2 win

Jeff McNeil, NYM

vs. Lux (LAD), 6-3 win

at Tucker (PIT), 5-0 win

at Dahl (COL), 4-2 win

at Snell (TB), 4-1 loss

Hunter Pence, SF

at Stanek (MIA), 2-1 loss

vs. Jackson (ATL), 1-0 win

at Snell (TB), 7-6 loss

Brett Phillips, KC

at Goodrum (DET), 3-2 win

Blake Snell, TB

at Duplantier (ARI), 7-3 win

vs. May (MIN), 3-2 loss

vs. Pence (SF), 7-6 win

vs. McNeil (NYM), 4-1 win

Juan Soto, WSH

vs. Gallo (TEX), 4-3 win

at Giolito (CWS), 3-1 win

Ryne Stanek, MIA

vs. Happ (CHC), 5-3 loss

vs. Pence (SF), 2-1 win

Fernando Tatis Jr., SD

vs. Hoskins (PHI), 7-1 loss

Cole Tucker, PIT

at Kahnle (NYY), 1-0 win

vs. McNeil (NYM), 5-0 loss

While Snell took full advantage of his opportunity Monday, Gallo did the opposite.

He lost both of his games in heartbreaking fashion by a single run to Happ and Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals, and the latter came on the final pitch of the game. With Gallo nursing a two-run lead with one out in the final inning, Soto launched a walk-off three-run homer with Yan Gomes to propel the virtual Nationals to victory:

Happ's victory over Gallo was part of his dramatic late run to the playoffs.

He led the virtual Cubs on a 10-1 stretch to finish the regular season and went 3-1 in Monday's action with his only loss coming against Trevor May of the Minnesota Twins. That helped him make up ground against crosstown rival Giolito, but the White Sox pitcher is still in playoff position as well thanks to the tiebreaker rules and some help from Tatis' loss to Rhys Hoskins of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Giolito is tied with Tommy Kahnle of the New York Yankees after the latter went 1-2 in three games Monday.

The former split two games Monday but finished with six more total runs scored than Kahnle, which was the first tiebreaker in the league.