MLB Playoffs: Day Five

What a day yesterday!  Three teams facing elimination -- the Rays, Cardinals, and Nats -- all won.  (The Twins lost 3-1 to the Yankees, but they weren't going anywhere anyway.)  Today is a travel day for the National League, so we only have one game today.  The Rays finally make it into prime time:

6:07 PM Central:  Houston at Tampa Bay (Houston leads 2-1) (Fox Sports One)

Status of other series:

New York has beaten Minnesota, 3 games to 0.  The Twins have now lost 16 consecutive post-season games, which is one of the most amazing things I've ever heard of in sports.  The Twins have not won a playoff series since the Divisional Series in 2002, when they beat the Oakland team that's featured in Moneyball.

Atlanta and St. Louis are tied 2-2 (next game on Wednesday).  These two teams played a thriller yesterday afternoon.  The Braves were up 4-3 going into the bottom of the 8th, when Yadier Molina singled to tie the game.  Two innings later, Molina -- the Grand Ole Man of St. Louis -- whanged a sacrifice fly to left for the game-winner.  Atlanta has not won a playoff series since 2001, when they beat the Astros in a divisional series.

Los Angeles and Washington are tied 2-2 (next game on Wednesday).  Washington has not won a playoff series since 1924, when the Senators beat the New York Giants to win the World's Championship.  But last night, facing elimination at home, they survived thanks to 7 innings of 1-run pitching from Max Scherzer, and a three-run homer from Ryan Zimmerman -- the Grand Ole Man of Washington.  The Nats beat Los Angeles 6-1 to force a Game Five in L.A.