The Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies have ended the regular season with identical 91-71 records. That means, in keeping with ancient laws of combat, the Rockies and Dodgers on Monday will play a one-game tiebreaker for the National League West title. Now let's break down what you need to know about Monday's determinative matchup: NL West tiebreaker: Rockies (91-71) at Dodgers (91-71) Date : Monday, Oct. 1 : Monday, Oct. 1 Time : 4:09 p.m. ET : 4:09 p.m. ET Location : Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. : Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. TV channel : ESPN : ESPN Streaming: WatchESPN WatchESPN Live stats : GameTracker : GameTracker Picks: Check SportsLine's MLB pick sheet for all your daily odds. As noted above, the tiebreaker is at Dodger Stadium Since the Dodgers won the season series against Colorado (the Dodgers went 12-7 against the Rockies in regular season and outscored them by a margin of 98-69), L.A. will host the tiebreaker game. Some relevant facts insofar as that is concerned: The Dodgers this season were actually worse at home (.543) than they were on the road (.580). The Rockies, meantime, had a respectable .543 winning percentage in road games this season. In 2018, the Dodgers went 6-3 against the Rockies at home. The last time these two teams met, Sept. 17-19, the Dodgers swept the Rockies in L.A. Overall, home teams in MLB tend win about 54 percent of the time. It's an edge, yes, but it's not as substantial as the home-field advantage in, say, the NFL or NBA. There's much at stake Not only does the winner of Monday's tiebreaker get NL West bragging rights, but they also advance to the best-of-five NLDS against the Braves with home-field advantage. The loser, meantime, will play the loser of the NL Central tiebreaker in the NL Wild Card Game. Obviously, you want to avoid having any part of that playoff knockout game. The potential pitching matchup is a compelling one It seems likely that on Monday the Rockies will start German Marquez, while the Dodgers will counter with Walker Buehler. The digits on the two this season: German Marquez COL • SP • 48 2018 ERA 3.76 WHIP 1.20 IP 191.1 BB 55 K 221 View Profile Walker Buehler LAD • SP • 21 2018 ERA 2.76 WHIP .98 IP 130.2 BB 34 K 148 View Profile The 23-year-old Marquez has mid-90s velocity, and he leads with his fastball and curve. However, he also boasts a slider, sinker, and change that he can throw for strikes. As for Buehler, 24, he sits 97 with his fastball and sinker, and he keeps hitters off balance with a curve, cutter and slider. Now for some additional numbers: In 35 road games (33 starts), Marquez for his career has a 3.74 ERA and 3.28 K/BB ratio. This season, he has a 2.91 ERA and 4.63 K/BB ratio in 16 starts away from Coors Field. For his young career, Buehler has made 11 starts and four relief appearances at Dodger Stadium, and over that span he's pitched to a 2.52 ERA and a 5.31 K/BB ratio. Hitters currently on the Dodgers' roster have hit a combined .188/.259/.386 in a total of 113 plate appearances against Marquez. Hitters currently on the Rockies' roster have hit a combined .213/.281/.339 in a total of 139 plate appearances against Buehler. The Dodgers this season ranked fifth in the NL with a .752 OPS at home. The Rockies this season ranked 14th in the NL with a .665 OPS on the road. As ever, it may come down to the Rockies' ability to put runs on the board outside of Coors Field. The bullpens will surely be a factor While it's not an elimination game, the stakes are certainly high. That means managers Bud Black and Dave Roberts will probably go with an all-hands-on-deck approach. In a neutral context, the two bullpens are similar in terms of quality (mostly this means adjusting for the distortive effects of Coors Field). Both are relatively healthy at the moment. Bud Black will likely lean heavily on Adam Ottavino, Seung-hwan Oh and Scott Oberg. Of those core guys, only Oh pitched in Sunday's blowout win over the Nationals, and he threw just five pitches. Meantime, Oberg, Ottavino and Davis haven't pitched since Friday. They'll be about as fresh as you can be by the standards of late September/early October. The issue for the Rockies will be getting some reliable work from the left side. Don't be surprised if Ottavino, who tames both sides, gets the call against a left-handed bat in a key spot on Monday. As for the Dodgers, they're without Daniel Hudson and Erik Goeddel, but otherwise Roberts will have his go-tos available. He used none of Kenley Jansen, Ryan Madson, Kenta Maeda, Dylan Floro and Scott Alexander in Sunday's bombing of the Giants. In simple terms, give the Rockies the edge when it comes to the front line and the Dodgers the edge when it comes to depth. Also bear in mind that rested starters might also get a look. Sunday's starters Tyler Anderson and Rich Hill will presumably be unavailable. The Dodgers are trying to join elite company The Dodgers are trying to win their sixth straight NL West title. If they do, then they'll join the Yankees (1998-2006) and Braves (1995-2005) as the only franchises to win at least six straight division championships. The Rockies are trying to get it done for the first time. While Colorado will be making its fifth trip to the postseason in its relatively brief history, the Rockies have never done so via a division title. They've had just three second-place finishes, as well.<doc-sep>After Monday's historic pair of divisional tiebreakers, we're now set with the final National League playoff field. The Braves will head to L.A. to face the Dodgers while the Brewers await the winner of the Rockies-Cubs bout in Wrigley Field. It'll take place at 8 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN. Here's how to watch: NL Wild Card Game: Rockies (91-72) at Cubs (95-68) Date : Tuesday, Oct. 2 : Tuesday, Oct. 2 Time : 8 p.m. ET : 8 p.m. ET Location : Wrigley Field in Chicago : Wrigley Field in Chicago TV channel : ESPN : ESPN Streaming: WatchESPN WatchESPN Live stats : GameTracker : GameTracker Picks: Check SportsLine's MLB pick sheet for all your daily odds. The season series was completely even Season series aren't indicative of how the postseason is going to go and there are a litany of examples. With a one-gamer it's particularly irrelevant. Why even bring it up, then, Matt? Because this is a really fun fact. Not only did the Rockies and Cubs each win three of the six games between the two this season, but they scored an identical number of runs in the six games. It's even more fun than that, too! The series was 3-3 and the runs scored tally was 33-33. Other than that, though, who cares? The last time the two teams faced each other was May 2. Next! Rockies have had it worse, travel-wise After a loss in Arizona on Sept. 19, the Cubs had a day off. They haven't left Chicago since. The only road games came on the South Side against the White Sox. They then played eight games at home and get to stay put again for Tuesday. The Rockies, meantime, had to go from home to Los Angeles and now are flying to Chicago and will have to play without a day off for travel. It happens a lot during the course of the regular season, so they can handle it. Just saying the Cubs have had a lot more home cookin' leading up to the bout. The Cubs have their man on the mound Jon Lester is lined up for the start on normal rest. The Cubs don't really have an ace that separates from the pack -- you could argue Kyle Hendricks or even Cole Hamels should be the top choice in a must-win game -- but Lester has the big-game history required here and comes off a very good regular season. In 32 starts, he was 18-6 with a 3.32 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 149 strikeouts in 181 2/3 innings. The All-Star went through a rough patch in the middle of the season, posting an 8.01 ERA in eight starts from July 1 through Aug. 11. On that latter date, it was a particularly disastrous start. He coughed up nine runs (eight earned) on 10 hits in just 3 2/3 innings. He gave up three home runs. His ERA had gone from a low point of 2.10 all the way up to 3.89. Since then, though, he's been mostly good but even great in some outings. He's pitched to a 1.71 ERA in his last eight starts while the Cubs have won seven of those games. Last time out, he gutted through six scoreless innings without his best stuff (four walks, three strikeouts). Four times in his last eight starts, he's gotten through at least six innings without allowing a run. As noted with the history comment, Lester rises to the occasion in October most of the time. In 148 career postseason innings, he has a 2.55 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. In 2016-17 with the Cubs, he's worked 50 innings and has a 1.98 ERA. So do the Rockies, but ... All indications are that the Rockies will be pitching lefty Kyle Freeland, who just finished one of the best pitching seasons in Rockies history and is almost criminally underrated. He finished the season 17-7 with a 2.85 ERA (165 ERA+), 1.25 WHIP and 173 strikeouts in 202 1/3 innings. This coming after a bad April, too. In fact, in Freeland's last 20 starts, he had a 2.32 ERA and the Rockies won 16 of those 20 starts. Since the beginning of July, he's made 17 starts and the Rockies have won 15 of them. It's become damn near automatic. Freeland starts, Rockies win. Clockwork. "But Matt, why is there a 'but' above?" Two things: Freeland is on short rest. He pitched on Friday, so it's three days' rest. He hasn't made a start on short rest all season. In fact, he hasn't done short rest between starts in his entire big-league career. Last season, he made a start on three days' rest after pitching in relief, but he only threw 10 pitches in said relief outing. He still gave up two runs on five hits in three innings in that start, though. It isn't that we know Freeland can't pitch well on short rest. He probably can. We just don't know. It's at least a slight risk. Freeland has actually been much better at home. How's this for a backward split? One would think getting Freeland out of Coors Field would be a, forgive me, Freeing experience. Only he's 10-2 with a 2.40 ERA in Coors and 7-5 with a 3.23 ERA on the road. Note that it's still good, but it would've been better the Rockies to have this one at home. Cubs bullpen limps in Closer Brandon Morrow is out for the season. Replacement closer Pedro Strop might not be available due to his hamstring injury and if he is, he hasn't pitched in game action Sept. 13. Carl Edwards Jr. had a 5.14 ERA with 12 walks in 11 outings (seven innings) in September. Steve Cishek has a 4.76 ERA with eight walks and three hit batsmen in his last 11 1/3 innings. Justin Wilson coughed up three hits and two runs in 2/3 of an inning on Sept. 26 and allowed a single and double before departing on Monday. Brandon Kintlzer has been terrible with the Cubs. Who can Joe Maddon count on? Well, Jesse Chavez has been amazing, but he just threw two innings on Monday. Jorge De La Rosa has a 1.29 ERA and 1.05 WHIP since joining the Cubs. Mike Montgomery's stuff will probably play better out of the bullpen than in the rotation, but he just started on Sunday. More than likely, the Cubs need Lester to get through seven here or else they are going to have to face some pretty scary relief choices. Rockies bullpen in better shape The Rockies best relievers and how they look: Closer Wade Davis went through a bad stretch in late July through early August, but he's only allowed one run in his last 18 outings. In that span, he has 25 strikeouts and only two walks. He hasn't pitched since Friday, so he's well rested. Setup man Adam Ottavino did close the season on a sour note (7.04 ERA in last 7 2/3 innings), but he's also well rested, having last worked Friday as well. He's talented enough to right the ship. Right-hander Scott Oberg has been excellent this season (2.48 ERA, 0.97 WHIP) and only had one slip up in September. He did pitch Monday, but only threw eight pitches. He's fine to go back-to-back since he had two days off before Monday. Seung-Hwan Oh has had a very good season and has gone seven straight scoreless outings. He pitched Sunday, but it was only five pitches and he got Monday off. Three of the Rockies four best relievers are going really well right now and all four of them are available to shoulder a decent-sized burden in the Wild Card Game. It's in much better shape than the Cubs' relief corps. The Cubs' boom-or-bust offense The Cubs show well in several important offensive categories and have a few players with good offensive numbers, but they are pretty extreme. In the last eight games, the Cubs scored one run or fewer four times. In the other games, they scored 7, 3, 8 and 10 runs.<doc-sep>Just two days remain in the 2018 Major League Baseball regular season. Many postseason races have already been decided, but a few remain up in the air, which means we're in for an exciting weekend. Here's an update on the postseason races. (World Series probabilities are via SportsLine) Current playoff bracket Mike Meredith/CBS Sports What's done The Red Sox (107-53, 17.01% World Series champs) are the AL East champs and top seed. The Astros (101-58, 13.35%) are the AL West champs and No. 2 seed. The Indians (90-70, 11.67%) are the AL Central champs and No. 3 in the AL. The Yankees (99-61, 10.04%) and Athletics (96-64, 2.45%) will meet in the AL Wild Card Game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. The AL postseason field is settled. Those races are over. Over on the NL side, the Braves (90-70, 4.17%) are the NL East champions. The Cubs, Brewers, and Rockies have clinched playoff spots. The worst-case scenario for the Cubs and Brewers right now is home-field advantage in the NL Wild Card Game. What's almost done With just two games to play, the Dodgers hold a two-game lead over the Cardinals for the second NL wild-card spot. Los Angeles will clinch a postseason spot with their next win or the next Cardinals loss. In play Everything else! We'll go by team: The Cubs (94-66, 8.68%) are clinging to a one-game lead over the Brewers in the NL Central, which will provide the top NL seed. The Cubs won their series opener against the Cardinals on Friday and have won 10 of their last 15 games. They can clinch the division title as soon as Saturday with a win and a Brewers loss. If only one of those two things happens, the Cubs are ensured at least a Game 163 tiebreaker for the division title. The Brewers (93-67, 4.19%) have been amazing since a mid-August funk. Since Aug. 18, they are 25-10, which is easily the best mark in the NL in that span. They are facing the hapless Tigers this weekend and, to win the NL Central outright, they need to win Saturday and Sunday while the Cubs lose Saturday and Sunday. The Brewers have already secured home-field advantage in the NL Wild Card Game, should they not win the division. The Rockies (90-70, 5.30%) have won eight games in a row to seize control of the NL West from the Dodgers. Much like the Central, this is a one-game lead with two to go, so the division title can be wrapped up as soon as Saturday. Their magic number is two. The Rockies are hosting the Nationals this weekend and will clinch the NL West title with a win and a Dodgers loss on Saturday. Colorado has never won a division title in franchise history. They're on the verge of winning their first. The Dodgers (89-71, 23.05%) are currently in the second NL wild-card slot, holding a one-game lead over the Cardinals. Los Angeles will clinch a postseason spot with its next win or the next Cardinals loss. That said, the Dodgers are focused on catching the Rockies in the NL West. They need to win Saturday and Sunday while the Rockies lose Saturday and Sunday to win the division outright. It's worth noting Los Angeles has clinched a 163rd game. It'll either be a tiebreaker game, the Wild Card Game, or Game 1 of the NLDS, but the Dodgers will play beyond Sunday. The Cardinals (87-73, 0.09%) have their backs up against the wall after losing four straight games. They are currently two games behind the Dodgers for the second wild-card spot and that means the Cardinals have to win Saturday and Sunday while the Dodgers lose Saturday and Sunday just to force a Game 163 tiebreaker. A tall order, to be sure. They need help from the Giants, who are hosting the rival Dodgers this weekend. We know on the NL side that the NL Central champion will be the top seed and host the Wild Card Game winner. We know the Braves will play the NL West champion, but we don't know which division champ there will have home-field advantage. Only two games remain, but there are still lots of potential scenarios in play. It's all kinds of fun and, for fans of teams involved, nerve-wracking. It's what you sign up for as a fan. It should be noted the potential exists for two tiebreaker games on the NL side. It's enough of a possibility that MLB sent out a schedule for potential tiebreaker scenarios earlier this week: It is still possible for the Cubs and Brewers to tie for first place in the NL Central at 94-68 or 95-67, and for the Dodgers and Rockies to tie for first place in the NL West at 90-72 or 91-71. In that case, the following tiebreaker games would happen: Brewers at Cubs to decide NL Central champion. Rockies at Dodgers to decide NL West champion. The losers of the NL Central and NL West tiebreaker games would be the two wild card teams. The Cubs and Dodgers would host the tiebreaker games because they won the season series over the Brewers and Dodgers, respectively. The second-place team in the NL Central will host the Wild Card Game regardless of opponent.<doc-sep>
The good news is the Rockies are still alive for their first ever division title. The bad news is it’s complicated. After a rather torturous loss on Saturday night at the hands of the Nationals, the Rockies fell to 90-71 on the season and into a tie for first in the NL West with the Dodgers, who defeated the Giants earlier in the day. This means that, after these two teams have played 303 games in 2018, the division will be decided by the results of the final day of the regular season—unless they remain tied and need to play another game. There are a lot of moving parts to this last day not only for the Rockies but for the entire National League playoff picture. The Cubs and Brewers are also tied atop the NL Central and the Braves, the only team to have clinched a playoff spot before Wednesday, could begin the NLDS in Denver, Los Angeles, or Atlanta based on Sunday’s games. Like I said: complicated. 161 games and we still don’t know pic.twitter.com/rKoXSr8JWo — Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) September 30, 2018 We will attempt to make sense of everything that can happen on the last day of the regular season for you. What we know The Braves (90-71), Cubs (94-67), Brewers (94-67), Rockies (90-71), and Dodgers (90-71) have all clinched playoff spots. The Braves will play in the National League Division Series beginning Thursday against the National League West champion. On that day the National League Central champion will host the winner of the National League Wild Card Game, which will be played on Tuesday with whoever finishes second in the NL Central hosting whoever finishes second in the NL West. If it seems like we don’t know a lot it’s because we don’t. What’s happening Sunday On Sunday, all 15 games being played will begin between 1:05 pm MT and 1:20 pm MT. I hope you didn’t have afternoon plans. The Brewers will host the Tigers, the Cubs will host the Cardinals, and the Braves will host the Phillies. More on all of them in a minute. Firstly, the Rockies will host the Nationals at Coors FIeld starting at 1:10 pm MT. Tyler Anderson will get the start for the Rockies. He hasn’t pitched since September 14 but went six innings and gave up two runs in each of he previous two starts. Who will be starting opposite him? At the beginning of the weekend it seemed likely that two-time-defending NL Cy Young Award winner (and likely 2018 runner-up) Max Scherzer would start the game for the Nats. But Washington manager Dave Martinez said after Saturday’s game that, because the Rockies and Dodgers both already have playoff spots, Scherzer won’t start the series finale. That means Erick Fedde, owner of a 5.24 ERA in ten starts this season, will take the mound. This news made Dodgers fans, unsurprisingly, salty and it sent the team into deliberation mode. Rookie Walker Buehler (7-5, 2.76 ERA) was scheduled to start the regular season finale in San Francisco against Giants rookie Andrew Suarez (7-12, 4.76 ERA), but was pushed in favor of Rich Hill (10-5, 3.87 ERA) so that Buehler would be available for a potential one-game playoff on Monday. Then, when news came that Scherzer wouldn’t be starting on Sunday, the team went into further deliberations. Just before midnight pacific the Dodgers announced that Rich Hill would indeed start against the Giants on Sunday. So it will be Anderson vs. Fedde and Suarez vs. Hill to (maybe) decide the NL West. In case you’re keeping track, that’s five games to scoreboard-watch on Sunday. The Scenarios First, the NL Central. The Cubs and Brewers are tied for the best record in the National League. If the Cubs win and the Brewers lose, or vise versa, the winning team will lock up the division title and home field advantage through the NLCS and the losing team will take the first Wild Card. If the Brewers and Cubs both win or both lose, they will play a Game 163 at Wrigley Field on Monday to determine the NL Central champion. The loser of that game (or whoever ends up second in the division) will host the Wild Card Game on Tuesday night on ESPN. Who they will play depends on the Rockies and Dodgers, who are in an almost identical situation.