The wild-card tiebreaking procedures are just a little confusing if more than two teams tie for the final wild-card spot, which is certainly possible. The Twins and Angels enter the weekend trailing Houston by just one game.
Let's look at two-way ties first.
If Minnesota finished in a two-way tie with Houston, the Twins would have a home game Monday. Two-way tie breakers go head-to-head (the teams were 3-3), and then to record within their respective divisions (Twins get the edge here). If the Twins tie with Los Angeles, the Angels get the tiebreaker (Angels won season series 5-2) and would host Minnesota. Houston owns the tiebreaker against the Angels.
But if there's a three-way tie, things really get murky. The positioning is decided on how the teams fared against one another during the season. The Angels would finish first in this three-team race with a 14-12 record, the Astros next at 13-12 and the Twins last at 5-8.
The Angels would have the choice of opening at home, and having to win twice to reach the playoffs, or playing one game on the road. Almost everyone believes the Angels would opt for one game.
That means the Twins would be at Houston Monday, and the winner of that game would host the Angels on Tuesday (remember, the Angels chose to play on the road, instead of having two potential home games).
So, just to review, the Twins get Houston at home if the two teams tie for the final wild-card spot, but will probably be at Houston if there's a three-way tie, pending the Angels decision.
Here's a link to the MLb tie-breaker procedures.
