Breaking down the depressing race for the 2nd AL wild-card spot

Competing for the second American League wild-card spot in 2017 seems not unlike racing the Tour de France in the early aughts as anyone but Lance Armstrong: Yes, you're technically in it, but there's an undeniable feeling of futility.

(Though if you think it premature to assume the New York Yankees have locked up the first wild-card spot, you're right.)

With all due respect, all seven teams (yep, nearly half the league) within five games of the Minnesota Twins - who, at 64-60, currently occupy the second wild-card spot - are bad. Bad-bad. Like, if your team had a three-game set coming up against any of those wildly unremarkable clubs, you'd have no qualms predicting a series victory, maybe even a sweep if [INSERT ACE HERE] gets the ball. Ultimately, no matter who gets to flip that coin - even if they manage to beat the Yankees or whoever in that one-game playoff - they're not getting past the Houston Astros in the best-of-five American League Division Series.

This, of course, was exactly what Bud Selig hoped would happen when he introduced the new wild-card format in 2012, but it's tough to shake the feeling that this year's race is especially inconsequential. One need only look at the teams running to see why.

Minnesota Twins

The Twins' greatest strength, really, is that they get to play the White Sox and Tigers, who own a combined .414 winning percentage this season, another 13 times. Their other strengths? Well, uh ... Byron Buxton is hitting. No, seriously! His OPS is up to .682 for the season! Those recent improvements at the plate will totally offset the loss of Miguel Sano, who landed on the DL due to a stress reaction in his shin, right? And it's totally fine that Jose Berrios and Ervin Santana have barely been league average, collectively, since the All-Star break, right? (No. The answer is no.)

Los Angeles Angels

When Mike Trout delivers his Hall of Fame induction speech 15-ish years from now and waxes poetic about all those World Series titles he won in New York, it'll take Cooperstown-caliber restraint not to belabor the Angels' failure to make the 2017 playoffs. After all, no team is more qualified to get that second wild-card spot than the Angels, who employ Mike Trout, the best player on the planet. On the other hand, they have 24 players that aren't Mike Trout, a group that includes sub-replacement-level Albert Pujols and Ben Revere and Luis Valbuena and Martin Maldonado. That's a problem.

Seattle Mariners

Name one healthy Mariners starter and they can have the second wild-card spot. Go on. You can't do it, can you? Felix Hernandez is hurt. Same goes for James Paxton. Nice try, though. Nope, Hisashi Iwakuma has been on the DL since May. Dude, Drew Smyly hasn't even thrown a pitch this year.

Kansas City Royals

Everyone had them pegged as deadline sellers following a 26-34 start, so of course the Royals - the most inexplicable, exasperating juggernaut in recent history - are back in it, buoyed by a 29-14 run from mid-June through late July. Of course Eric Hosmer has put up an OPS nearly 100 points higher than his career mark. Of course Jason Vargas' ERA is 26 percentage points better than league average. Of course Mike Moustakas is two homers shy of the AL lead. And of course all these trends are sustainable and predictive.

Texas Rangers

Sure, they're the only team in this group with a positive run differential, but the Rangers have no illusions of World Series glory, having traded away Yu Darvish and Jonathan Lucroy ahead of July's non-waiver trade deadline. Even if they did find a way into the postseason, they'd find a way to get ousted by the Toronto Blue Jays, who aren't even going to make the postseason.

Baltimore Orioles

Really? Didn't y'all see how this turned out for the Orioles last year? Hyun Soo Kim nearly got pelted by a beer can at Rogers Centre during the 2016 AL wild-card game, and then Edwin Encarnacion shattered Baltimore's postseason dreams into a million pieces because Buck Showalter decided to save his closer for a save situation that never came. It's too soon, man.

Tampa Bay Rays

Since trading away Tim Beckham on July 31, the Rays have hit .208/.289/.337 (70 wRC+) as a team. Over that same span, Beckham, the first overall pick by Tampa Bay in the 2008 draft, has hit .424/.443/.741 with five homers, eight doubles, and two triples in an Orioles uniform. Coincidence? Yes, of course. But the Rays' lineup, even with newcomer Lucas Duda, is still a dumpster fire.

Toronto Blue Jays

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

There is no greater indictment of the state of the American League than the Blue Jays, who still aren't technically out of the playoff conversation despite giving one-third of their August starts to Nick Tepesch or Chris Rowley or Cesar Valdez while regularly running out a double-play combination of Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney. Raffy Lopez has started behind the plate for Toronto in five of its last nine games, too. Searching "Raffy Lopez" on Baseball Reference literally yields no results.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images unless otherwise credited)
(Playoff odds courtesy: Fangraphs)