The Minnesota Twins became the fourth team to clinch a playoff spot and the third from the AL. Oakland will try for the fourth straight day to clinch a playoff spot. The NL pennant races aren't decided except for the Mets, who are just watching in glee as their potential playoff competitors flail about. 17 teams overall have no chance at the playoffs. 4 teams have clinched playoff spots. There are 9 teams left playing for four spots: Oakland, Los Angeles of Anaheim, Philadelphia, Florida, St. Louis, Houston, Cincinnati, San Diego, and Los Angeles.

In the NL, the Central leader and the West leader, St. Louis and San Diego play the second game of their series at Busch Stadium at 5:10 pm PT (Woody Williams vs. Chris Carpenter). Both teams have magic numbers of 5. The Padres lead the Dodgers by 2 games and the Cardinals lead the Astros by 2 1/2 games.

The Dodgers and Phillies are now tied for the wild card. Both teams are on the road against the last place teams in their divisions. Philadelphia will be at Washington at 4:05 pm PT (Brett Myers vs. Ramon Ortiz). The Dodgers are at Colorado at 5:35 pm PT (Greg Maddux vs. Jason Jennings).

Houston, which has won 6 straight, while St. Louis has lost 6 straight, plays at Pittsburgh at 5:10 pm PT (Andy Pettitte vs. Ian Snell) in an attempt to keep its improbable quest to catch the Cardinals in the Central.

Oakland leads the Angels by five games with six left to play and has a magic number of 2. Oakland tries again to clinch the AL West at Seattle at 7:05 pm PT (Rich Harden vs. Jake Woods). The Athletics also need the Angels to lose at home to Texas in a 7:05 pm PT start (Robinson Tejeda vs. Kelvim Escobar).

They will also play:
Baltimore at Yankees - Hayden Penn takes his 15.43 ERA into Yankee Stadium to face the AL East champs.
White Sox at Cleveland - Pretend it's 2005 and this game will seem really important.
Cincinnati at Florida - Even if the Reds lose, they're still not eliminated. The Marlins would be dead with a loss or a win by Philadelphia or Los Angeles.
Tampa Bay at Boston - The Red Sox know that they can't go lower than third.
Toronto at Detroit - Tigers are tied with Yankees for best record in the AL.
Mets at Atlanta - Mets promise not to taunt the Braves. Much.
Milwaukee at Cubs - The Brewers have won five straight and could finish third, but not many people will care.
Kansas City at Minnesota - Johan Santana will try to pitch will encased in Plexiglass to avoid injury.
Arizona at San Francisco - The Giants lead Arizona and Colorado by just one game for third place.