WHAT'S AT STAKE for the Mets vs. Cubs. 👀 Buster Olney gives all the details ⚾️ - SportsCenter

The baseball we go where the National League wildcard race was shaken up last night. The Reds had their five-game win streak snapped by the Pirates despite a three-for-three performance and a home run from Eli De La Cruz. Now the Mets, they trailed 6-1 against the Cubs last night but Francisco Alvarez hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning to give the Mets a much-needed victory. Out in the desert the Diamondbacks continue to hang around as Geraldo Perdomo recorded his first career walk-off hit as the Snakes took down the Dodgers. So the Mets have taken over that third and final wildcard spot for the time being but the Reds are just one game back and do own the tiebreaker over the Mets. And finally the Diamondbacks just won't go away even after being a stout being a seller at the trade deadline also just a game back of the Mets. Tonight we have a special Wednesday night baseball matchup on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Pete Alonso, Juan Soto and the Mets play the second game of a big three-game series against the Cubs. Coverage begins at 7 Eastern. With that we welcome in baseball insider Buster Olney who will be on the call tonight from Chicago. So Buster take us through what you're focused on in tonight's game starting with New York. Christine on the Mets side I think we're all watching the bullpen. We did an amazing job last night but so much work. Seven and two-thirds innings after David Peterson got knocked out. A lot of guys threw a lot of innings most notably Edwin Diaz their closer winds up throwing two innings 27 pitches. He's now thrown in three of the last four games so the Mets are going to need starting pitcher Jonah Tong tonight to give them some length to take pressure off the bullpen. And on the Cubs side we continue to monitor the status of Kyle Tucker their all-star right fielder who's coming back from a calf injury. Now he was down in Florida last week getting some rehab done. The Cubs are hopeful that he'll get some plate appearances by the end of the week so he can get ready for the start of the playoffs. This is someone who was red hot at the time that he got injured in his last 11 games he was batting 400. The Cubs want to try to get him back to that point before they start the postseason. The Cubs have clenched a playoff spot for the first time since 2020. We will see how healthy Tucker is for the postseason. Now a team that's still looking to clench a postseason spot is the Tigers. Last night Buster the Guardians continued their improbable run beating the Tigers 5-2 to pull into a tie for the AL Central first place spot. Cleveland has won 11 of its last 12 games. Now this run could be one for the record books. The Guardians trailed the Tigers by 15 and a half games on July 8th and if they were to win the division it would be the largest deficit overcome to win a division or league in MLB history. So while the Guardians are making history the Tigers are absolutely collapsing. So what is the biggest factor for Detroit in terms of making the postseason or not? Well first and foremost Chrissy they got to win a game right? They've lost seven straight. They've lost 10 of their last 11. If you go back to July 9th they're just 26 and 38. So this extended slump has been going on for a while. A.J. Hinch the Tigers manager said after last night's game it is piling up on us. But something that's worth remembering the Tigers hold that third wildcard spot and for them to get knocked out of the playoffs and have maybe the worst collapse we've ever seen the Astros have to catch them. And Christine the Astros are a mess. They've lost four straight games. Jordan Alvarez is out. Jeremy Pena is out. We don't know when they're going to be back and oh by the way between the Tigers and the Astros the Tigers own the time breaker. So Houston would have to leapfrog Detroit for Detroit to miss the playoffs. All right we'll see if they're both able to clean it up. Looking forward to the baseball tonight. We'll see you on the call Buster. Thank you so much.