With just five games left in the regular season, the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, and Arizona Diamondbacks all find themselves within a single game of each other. With standings this tight, it’s entirely plausible that all three could finish the season with identical records, setting up a three-way tie for the final wildcard spot. It’s a rare situation, but one that MLB rules can resolve cleanly.
No extra games, no winner-take-all playoffs, no rock-beats-paper scenarios—MLB already knows who moves on. In this unusual corner of the rulebook, a straightforward tiebreaker determines everything: one team claims the wild card, while the other two are done.