http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/sports/baseball/wild-card-playoffs-update-friday.html 2016-09-30 15:50:22 Wild Card Playoffs Update: Friday The Yankees and the Astros are eliminated from contention. === There were two dropouts on Thursday night as baseball’s wild-card races proceeded toward Sunday’s conclusion of the regular season. In the American League, Baltimore’s victory in Toronto not only left those two teams tied for the lead in that wild-card race but also served to eliminate the Yankees and Houston from contention, since neither can now match the victory totals of either the Orioles or Blue Jays. So with three games to go, the Orioles and Blue Jays have a one and a half-game lead over Detroit and a three-game lead over Seattle. Two of those teams will ultimately play in the A.L. wild-card game next Tuesday. But before that, the Blue Jays will finish the season in Boston, against the Red Sox, who will head to the postseason as the winners of the American League East; the Orioles will go to the Bronx to play the disappointed Yankees; the Mariners will be at home against Oakland, and the Tigers will be in Atlanta to play the Braves in one of those funky interleague matchups that now pop up at the end of a regular season. But because the Tigers’ game against Cleveland was rained out on Thursday they now have an extra game left on their schedule. If that game remains relevant to the A.L. wild-card race after Sunday’s action is concluded, the Tigers and Indians will have to play it on Monday in Detroit. At which point, Major League Baseball can only hope that a tiebreaker game is not also needed to sort out who plays whom in the A.L. wild-card game. Stay tuned. In the National League, both St. Louis and San Francisco won on Thursday night. In the three-way battle for the two N.L. wild-card spots, the Mets now have a one-game lead over the Giants and a two-game lead over the Cardinals with three games left for everyone. That leaves the Mets in control of their own destiny. If they beat the Phillies at least twice this weekend in Philadelphia, they will be assured of finishing as the top team in the wild-card battle and will be the home club when the N.L.’s wild-card game is played next Wednesday. But if the Mets falter — and they have an unfortunate history of doing so (see 2007 and 2008) — they can still be eliminated. The Giants will finish at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cardinals will be at home against Pittsburgh.