The Marlins don't give up; they will fight until the last day of the regular season to reach the playoffs.
The Miami Marlins have tied the Chicago Cubs for the final open spot in the National League playoffs, while the Baltimore Orioles are technically the champions of the American League East division, where there is a bottleneck for the last two wild cards, entering the last weekend of the MLB regular season.
The Marlins split their series with the New York Mets at Citi Field, while the Cubs suffered two consecutive losses, resulting in both teams having a record of 82-76 for the third wild card spot. The Philadelphia Phillies (89-69) have secured the first wild card and home field advantage for the playoffs starting on Tuesday, while the Arizona Diamondbacks (84-74), with a record of 8-2 in their last 10 games, hold the second spot.
After playing the final game of the series in Queens, the Marlins will travel to Pittsburgh to close the season with three games against the Pittsburgh Pirates, while the Cubs will face the division champions Atlanta Braves (1) and Milwaukee Brewers (3) in their last four games.
With the current postseason format, there are no tiebreaker games. If the tie persists until the end of the regular season, the Marlins would claim the spot for defeating the Cubs 4-2 in the season series.
The Orioles (99-59) have reduced their magic number to one to surpass the Tampa Bay Rays (97-62) in the battle for the top spot in the AL East. But even if they were to finish tied, Baltimore would still win the division based on their 8-5 record against Tampa Bay in their head-to-head matchups.
A win by Baltimore or a loss by Tampa Bay is all the Orioles need to officially celebrate their first title since 2014.
The Texas Rangers (89-69) have reduced their magic number to two against the Houston Astros (87-72) to win the AL West division, while the Astros have regained a one-and-a-half game lead over the Seattle Mariners (85-73) in the battle for the third wild card spot.
The Toronto Blue Jays (87-71) are still in the second wild card spot, but only half a game ahead of Houston and two games ahead of Seattle.
Toronto will host the Yankees on Thursday and then the Rays over the weekend, while Seattle will have a golden opportunity to revive their hopes by facing the Rangers four times at home before the regular season ends.
A split would not be enough for Seattle, as they practically need to sweep the Rangers to win the division and at least win three out of four games to have a chance at a wild card spot.
Houston also faces a tough challenge as they close out the season against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix.