There were five games that affected the NL pennant race. Two teams clinched spots, one team was eliminated, and two teams were pushed to the brink. So with a slightly different format, we'll look at the games as they started:

4:05 pm PT - Washington takes on Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park. Tim Redding takes on Cole Hamels. For four innings the game is scoreless, but in the bottom of the fifth, Jimmy Rollins singles in two and one batter later, Chase Utley doubles home Rollins. The Phillies lead 3-0.

Hamels takes over and shuts out the Nats over 8 innings with 13 strikeouts. Ryan Howard homers in the seventh and the Phillies win 6-0. Time of game: 3 hours even.

4:10 pm PT - Chicago comes into Cincinnati with a magic number of 2. Carlos Zambrano faces Bronson Arroyo. Alfonso Soriano homers to lead off the game and it's all downhill from there. The Cubs cruise 6-0 to lower their magic number to 1.

4:22 pm PT - A brief delay to tend to the tarp sends the game at Shea Stadium between the Mets and Marlins off a little late. Oliver Perez is not sharp early and gives up a 2-run homer to Jeremy Hermida in the first. Perez gets a run back in the second on a single and an error by Cody Ross to score Carlos Delgado.

But it all falls apart for Perez in the third as he hits three batters, two of them with the bases loaded and the Marlins lead 4-1. Carlos Beltran hits a 2-run homer off of Byung-Hyun Kim to make it 4-3.

The Marlins keep at it. Miguel Cabrera singles home two runners in the fourth and Matt Treanor homers in the fifth. Four Marlin relievers seal the deal and the Mets lose 7-4 and they fall into second place, one game behind the Phillies.

5:05 pm PT - Colorado, winners of 11 straight, hosts first place Arizona before a crowd of over 50,000 at Coors Field. Brandon Webb faces Jeff Francis.

Arizona gets on the board first with a sacrifice fly from Augie Ojeda. In the third, Connor Jackson hits a 2-run homer. Colorado gets one back on an RBI single from Matt Holliday. Steven Drew drives in a run in the sixth to make it 4-1 and Brad Hawpe doubles in one for Colorado to make it 4-2, which is how it ended. With the win and the Mets losing about eight minutes earlier, the Diamondbacks clinched a playoff spot.

5:05 pm PT - The game in Milwaukee between the Padres and Brewers starts at the same time as the game in Denver. Greg Maddux faces Chris Capuano, who hasn't pitched in a winning game for the Brewers since May 7. The Brewers can tell that this will be a must-win game as the Cubs score early and the lead grows throughout.

Milwaukee strikes first with two runs in the first on a sacrifice fly from Ryan Braun and an RBI single by Corey Hart.

But San Diego scores three times in the fourth on an RBI single from Josh Bard, a sacrifice fly from Geoff Blum, and an RBI single by former Brewer Brady Clark. Hart homers in the bottom of the fourth to tie it up.

Capuano departs after fire innings and Claudio Vargas relieves and he is greeted in the sixth by back-to-back doubles by Adrian Gonzalez and Khalil Greene. In the eighth, Greene finishes off the Brewers with a 2-run homer off of former Padre Scott Linebrink. The Padres win 6-3 and eliminate the Brewers and the Cubs are NL Central champs (and the second team in the NL playoffs by about 10 minutes).

So to sum up:

• Chicago has won the NL Central and will be the #3 seed
• Arizona is in the playoffs as either the NL West champ or the wild card. They can clinch the division and the #1 seed with a win Saturday or a loss by San Diego.
• San Diego has a magic number of 1 to make the playoffs.
• Philadelphia can clinch the NL East with a win Saturday combined with a Mets loss.
• Colorado will be eliminated with a loss or a win by San Diego.

And now...

NL Central (Ernie Banks Division):

In other action in the division, the Cardinals guaranteed a last place finish for the Pirates with a 6-1 win in Pittsburgh.

Houston and Cincinnati are tied for fourth.

NL West (Scott Hairston Division):

Since either Arizona or San Diego will win, I decided to rename the division for the only player whose career consists of games for those two franchises.

The Dodgers and Giants played a less than heated rivalry game.

NL East (Tug McGraw Division):

The Braves were the only team in the division to play in a game that didn't affect the pennant races. They won.

NL Wild Card (Pedro Astacio Division):

San Diego leads by 1 game over the Mets with 2 games left. The Rockies are 2 games back.

Saturday's pitching matchups for games affecting the postseason:

Chris Seddon (Florida) vs John Maine (New York), Tall Chris Young (San Diego) vs Dave Bush (Milwaukee), Matt Chico (Washington) vs Adam Eaton (Philadelphia), Edgar Gonzalez (Arizona) vs Mark Redman (Colorado)

Meanwhile over in the AL...

AL East (Ted Williams Division):

The Red Sox beat the Twins 5-2 as Daisuke Matsuzaka threw eight innings and struck out eight.

AL Wild Card (Lou Gehrig Division):

The Yankees were one out away from staying alive in the AL East race when Jay Payton of the Orioles hit a two-out, bases loaded triple against Mariano Rivera to tie the game up. I was looking through the B-R Play Index to see if there had been any other cases of a bases-loaded triple with two outs to tie a game and I coudn't find any. The Orioles won 10-9 in 10 innings.

AL West (Tim Salmon Division):

John Lackey (the likely AL ERA champ at 3.01), Justin Speier, and Frankie Rodriguez combined to shut out the Athletics in Oakland, 2-0. But the Angels will be starting the ALDS on the road in Boston because ...

AL Central (Bob Feller Division):

Cleveland beat Kansas City, 5-3. The Indians will host the Yankees. They are tied with Boston for best record. The Red Sox hold the tiebreaker edge.

Saturday's only remotely important games:

Carlos Silva (Minnesota) vs Tim Wakefield (Boston), Jake Westbrook (Cleveland) vs Gil Meche (Kansas City)