San Francisco finally gave up the ghost Wednesday, but Cleveland refused to die as did Colorado. Toronto and the Yankees are now "Prognosis Negative." And the Cubs and Dodgers stalled on their drives to get into the playoffs. Tampa Bay can clinch its first ever playoff spot with two wins this weekend against Minnesota.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 4 (Cubs lose to Brewers)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 8 (Dodgers lose and Diamondbacks win)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 9 (White Sox and Twins lose)
• Rays (AL East) - 10 (Rays beat Red Sox. Rays magic number to clinch playoff spot is 3. If the Rays clinch a spot this weekend, then the magic number to win the division will drop one more as the Rays own a tiebreaker edge for the division over Boston with a 10-8 season series edge.)
• Phillies (NL East) -  11 (Phillies win and Mets win)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 4 (Red Sox and Twins lose)
• Mets - 11 (Mets and Brewers win)

Death or Glory? Bet on death

Colorado will be eliminated if the Dodgers win in Pittsburgh Thursday afternoon. The Rockies are off. Cleveland would have been eliminated if it lost any of its three games to Minnesota. Cleveland can be eliminated Thursday ONLY if BOTH Chicago and Minnesota win. Toronto and the Yankees will live until Friday since Boston is off Thursday.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 11. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case they finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. Oakland and Baltimore also could make up a game on September 25.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	57	94		.377
San Diego	58	95	1	.379
Washington	58	94	1/2	.382

Remaining games left:

• Washington (10) -  1 vs New York, 3 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego (9) -   3 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle (11) -  1 at Kansas City, 3 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

Thursday's Games of Note

Los Angeles (Kershaw) at Pittsburgh (Maholm), Milwaukee (Bush) at Chicago (Harden), New York (Santana) at Washington (Redding), San Francisco (Lincecum) at Arizona (Johnson), Chicago (Vazquez) at New York (Mussina), Minnesota (Perkins) at Tampa Bay (Shields)

Contenders Schedules

• Tampa Bay (12) - 4 vs Minnesota, 4 at Baltimore (includes doubleheader), 4 at Detroit
• Boston (10) - 3 at Toronto, 4 vs Cleveland, 3 vs New York
• Chicago White Sox (10) - 3 at Kansas City, 3 at Minnesota, 3 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (10) - 4 at Tampa Bay, 3 vs Chicago, 3 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (10) - 1 at Atlanta, 3 at Florida, 3 vs Atlanta, 3 vs Washington
• New York (11) - 1 at Washington, 3 at Atlanta, 4 vs Chicago, 3 vs Florida
• Chicago Cubs (12) - 1 vs Milwaukee, 3 vs St. Louis, 4 at New York, 3 at Milwaukee, 1 at Houston if needed
• Milwaukee (10) - 1 at Chicago, 3 at Cincinnati, 3 vs Pittsburgh, 3 vs Chicago
• Los Angeles (10) - 1 at Pittsburgh, 3 vs San Francisco, 3 vs San Diego, 3 at San Francisco
• Arizona (11) - 1 vs San Francisco, 3 at Colorado, 4 at St. Louis, 3 vs Colorado

How Times Change in Three Days

On Monday, Boston beat Tampa Bay 13-5 to move within .002 of first place. Jayson Stark offered this gloomy portrayal of how the Rays chances of winning the AL East were doomed.

On Tuesday, the Rays edged the Red Sox 2-1. And Stark now goes on and on about the magical season that the Rays are having.

On Wednesday, the Rays won 10-3. Stark wrote of how the Rays had taken control of the division. Although they had very little chance to win the division two days earlier.

Teams Frozen In Place

• Los Angels Angels (1st in AL West)
• Seattle (4th in AL West)
• Baltimore (5th in AL East)
• San Diego (5th in NL West)