This story appears in ESPN The Magazine's October 2 MLB Playoffs Issue. Subscribe today!
To exactly one of the Angels, Mariners, Orioles, Rangers, Rays, Royals and Twins: Congratulations! It's really happening!
For weeks, we've watched the seven of you fight for the American League's second wild-card spot. I wouldn't take any one of you in a race against .500, but chaos is a ladder, and in the daily re-scramble, Bud Selig's second wild-card scheme found self-actualization. Your playoff odds shifted faster than we could calculate each shift's significance; watching, say, the Angels rally against the Rangers in the ninth inning while the Royals tried to hold off the Twins could give an Orioles or Rays fan rooting vertigo.