Justin Verlander and the playoffs: a big day ahead

It's the second-to-last day of the MLB season, and it feels more than ever like the playoffs are just around the corner. Many teams have already secured their spots (and even locked in their seeding) with less than 36 hours left in the season.

That said, there are still a few races to be decided. In the American League, the Central and West divisions are still up for grabs… while in the National League, the sixth and final playoff spot is still up for grabs.

Except that these three races could, in fact, be decided today.

In the American League, both the Guardians and the Astros could clinch their divisions as early as today. To do so, they'll need to win their games and hope their rival loses.

The Guardians must beat the Royals and have the White Sox lose to the Rockies, while the Astros must beat the Athletics and have the Rangers lose to the Twins.

It's pretty much the same story for the Phillies: if they want to clinch a spot today, they'll have to beat the Rays and need the Diamondbacks to lose to the Padres.

In all three scenarios, if either condition isn't met, the race will come down to tomorrow.

And on top of all that, we'll also get to see the final career start of the great Justin Verlander, who will take the mound in front of Tigers fans for the first time this season. The veteran, who will retire at the end of the season, faces the Pirates today.

And his plan, as he stated earlier this week, is to pitch until his arm falls off. Nothing less.

Keep in mind that Verlander (3,554) is in a race with Max Scherzer (3,550) to set the record for the most career strikeouts. Scherzer will take the mound tomorrow (on short rest) in an effort to catch up to Verlander.

It's possible that Scherzer, in turn, will make his final career start tomorrow. But today, it's Verlander we'll see in action one last time… as he attempts to put his career strikeout total out of reach for his former teammate Scherzer.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.