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The Phillies have the best record in the National League, a three-game win streak, and starting Thursday, quite a test against the team with the Senior Circuit's next best record. Playoff-preview season is fully under way, with the Brewers and Phillies squaring off for not three, but four games in Milwaukee in a series that runs through the weekend. Philadelphia is baseball's only 90-win team, wi football teams th 91 after finishing a three-game sweep of the Braves on Wednesday. Milwaukee, with 85 wins, has the second-most in the league, and could make a statement with a strong performance against a team that's more than playoff-hardened. Milwaukee's Chris Narveson and Philadelphia's Cole Hamels are on the card for the opening bout. The Phils have the Majors' only double-digit division lead, pulling out football teams to a 10 1/2-game advantage over Atlanta. As for baseball's tightest race, things again only got cozier in the American League West on Wednesday. The Angels downed the Mariners, 3-1, and first-place Texas fell to Tampa Bay, 5-4, bringing the Angels back to within 2 1/2 games. That's how the day had started on Tuesday. The Angels and Rangers, like many clubs, have an off-day Thursday. The Halos then football teams face a challenge of their own in the Yankees, who go to Anaheim for three games. Texas will host the A's, who nearly had a no-hitter thrown Wednesday by Guillermo Moscoso. New York and Boston saw no change on Wednesday in their respective first- and second-place positions in the AL East, as both clubs lost. The gap in the AL Central continued to grow Wednesday when the top-seated Tigers won thei football teams r sixth in a row. The White Sox lost, putting their deficit at nine games back, and the Indians dropped their third in a row for a 9 1/2-game gap. Cleveland and Chicago head into a series against each other, while the Tigers face off with the last-place Twins -- a scenario that isn't opportune for the second- and third-place teams. One night after gaining a game on the NL West-leading D-backs, the football teams defending World Series-champion Giants lost that ground on Wednesday. San Francisco fell to the Padres, 3-1, and Arizona downed Colorado, 5-3, returning the D-backs' lead to seven. The Cardinals, off on Thursday, are in second in the NL Wild Card race, 6 1/2 games behind the Braves. If the Mets sweep a doubleheader of Atlanta on Thursday, St. Louis would enter a three-contest weekend series again football teams the Braves behind by a reachable 5 1/2 games. If the postseason started todayAMERICAN LEAGUERangers (3) at Yankees (1) Red Sox (Wild Card) at Tigers (2)NATIONAL LEAGUED-backs (3) at Phillies (1) Braves (Wild Card) at Brewers (2) Today's key games to watch Phillies (Hamels, 13-7) at Brewers (Narveson, 10-6), 8:10 p.m. ET PreviewThe Brewers and Phillies could well be the favorites to meet in the NL football teams CS. This is the opener of a four-game set. Yankees (Nova, 15-4) at Orioles (Simon, 11-8), 1:05 p.m. PreviewThe Yankees-Red Sox race for the AL East title is likely to come down to the final week of the season.Padres (Luebke, 5-8) at D-backs (Kennedy, 18-4), 9:40 p.m. PreviewArizona pulled its lead over San Francisco back to seven games on Wednesday.Red Sox (Miller, 6-2) at Blue Jays (Romero, 13-1 football teams 0), 7:07 p.m. PreviewToronto could take three of four from Boston with a win in the series finale. Postseason 101Magic numbersTo calculate a team's magic number, take the number of games it has remaining on the schedule and add one. Then subtract the difference in the loss column between the team and its closest pursuer.Tie-breaker scenariosIf two teams are tied atop the division and both are ass football teams ured of making the postseason, head-to-head record would be used to determine which team is the division champ and which falls to the Wild Card.If two teams are tied atop the division and share the Wild Card lead with another club, the ties will be broken in the following fashion: #149 The teams tied atop the division will play, with the winner taking the division. #149 The losing team will then p football teams lay the remaining Wild Card contender, with the winner making the playoffs.If three clubs are tied atop a division or Wild Card standings, each club would be designated in one of three slots, "A," "B," or "C." Clubs get to choose their designation based on head-to-head records. Tiebreaking games would then proceed like this: #149 Club A hosts Club B on Thursday, Sept. 29 #149 The winner of the fi football teams rst game hosts Club C on Friday, Sept. 30, with the winner declared champion. 2011 Postseason scheduleAmerican League Division Series: Sept. 30 - Oct. 6National League Division Series: Oct. 1-7American League Championship Series: Oct. 8-16National League Championship Series: Oct. 9-17World Series: Oct. 19-27Full postseason schedule football teams
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