CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs and the San Diego Padres are, as of this week, tied for the same position in the same league, and the position has a name, and the name is the wild card, and the wild card has, in the specific, a tiebreaker, and the tiebreaker is, in the specific, the reason both teams are, in the specific, doing math.

The math is as follows. The National League has six teams in it. The Brewers own the Central. The Dodgers own the West. The Braves own the East, which they did, in the specific, on Sunday. That leaves three wild card slots and four teams, and the four teams are the Cubs, the Padres, the Phillies, and the Diamondbacks, and the two of them at the top are, in the specific, tied, and the tie has, in the specific, a resolution, and the resolution is called the tiebreaker, and the tiebreaker, in the specific, belongs to the Cubs, which is the kind of fact that a team learns about the same week the other team does, and the week is the final week of the season, and the final week is, in the specific, the week in which the Cubs play the Marlins and the Red Sox, and the Red Sox have already clinched, and the Marlins have, in the specific, already not, and the two games are, in the specific, the games.

"The Cubs control their own destiny against the Marlins and Red Sox to close the campaign." — MLB's official series preview, which is the kind of sentence that is a sentence, and the sentence is, in the specific, the kind of sentence baseball says about teams that are, in the specific, one win away from doing the other thing

For the record, the American League’s math is different, in the specific, the direction of having more teams and fewer guarantees. The Rays, the Yankees, and the Red Sox are in. The White Sox hold the final wild card. Toronto, Baltimore, and Houston are all within two and a half games of it, which is, in the specific, the distance at which a baseball team stops being a team and starts being a projection, and the projection is, in the specific, the thing the schedule is now doing to three of the four teams, and the fourth team is, in the specific, the team that is, in the specific, the White Sox.

THE WILD CARD PICTURE, AS IT STANDS TONIGHT

  • National League: Cubs and Padres tied at the top, Phillies one game back, Diamondbacks in pursuit, tiebreaker: Cubs, which is, in the specific, the entire article.
  • American League: Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays clinched. White Sox hold the final spot. Toronto, Baltimore, and Houston within 2.5 games, which is, in the specific, the number that is, in the specific, a number.
  • The schedule: one week, which is, in the specific, the length of the remaining season, and the season is, in the specific, the length of the tie.

The thing about a tiebreaker, for the record, is that it exists before the tie. The Cubs and the Padres played each other this season, and the results of those games are now, in the specific, doing work that the games did not know they would do, and the work is, in the specific, the work that decides which team plays in October, and October is, in the specific, the month that is, in the specific, the thing, and the thing is, in the specific, the reason the tiebreaker has, on the record, a number, and the number is, in the specific, the number.

At press time, the Cubs and the Padres are both alive, both tied, both mathing, and the tiebreaker is, in the specific, still the tiebreaker, which is, in the specific, the state it has been in all week, and the state is, in the specific, the state.