The No.1 rule for Rockies manager Bud Black is to be ready for anything, so here’s what Colorado’s postseason fate will be based off the potential outcomes of Monday’s tiebreaker games for both the NL West and NL Central titles.
— Should the Rockies beat the Dodgers, they will not only clinch their first NL West title in franchise history, they’ll also clinch home field advantage in the NL Division Series against Atlanta. The Braves fell 3-1 to the Phillies on the road on Sunday, dropping their record to 90-72, one game back of the Rockies’ final mark of 91-71. That divisional series would begin Thursday at .
— Should the Rockies lose to the Dodgers, on Tuesday they would face the loser of Monday’s NL Central tiebreaker game between the Cubs and the Brewers being played at Wrigley Field. Because both clubs’ 95-67 regular season marks are better than the Rockies’ record, Colorado will be playing on the road, no matter what, should the club fall into the wild-card round.
— Should the Rockies lose to the Dodgers on Monday, and then win the wild card game on Tuesday, they would be the visiting team to the NL Central champion in the divisional series starting Thursday.
Triple Crown implications on Monday
The NL West and NL Central tiebreaker games will count as regular season games, meaning they have huge implications in the Brewers’ Christian Yelich’s pursuit of the Senior Circuit’s first Triple Crown since St. Louis’ Joe Medwick in 1937.
Yelich has the batting title all locked up with an NL-leading .323 average, 13 percentage points better than the guy in second, Cincinnati’s Scooter Gannett. Meanwhile, he’s second in RBIs with 109 behind the Cubs’ Javier Baez (111) and tied with . And, he’s tied with and the Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter, and one behind Arenado, for the home run lead with 36.
So, another huge day at the plate for the definite 2018 MVP selection — amid a torrid second half in which, entering Sunday, he led the majors in average (.364), slugging percentage (.776), OPS (1.220) and RBIs (66) — could place Yelich in rare baseball history.
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