If you want to win your division...

If you want to win your division, beat your division.

There are 17 teams still in postseason contention, seven of them (all in the AL) still in contention to win their division.

• The Orioles are 34-24 in their division, the Yankees are 30-28, and the Rays are 31-25 against their AL East counterparts.
• The White Sox are 29-30 in the AL Central, the Tigers are 32-23.
• The Rangers are 19-19 in the AL West, the A's are 25-21, and the Angels are 23-21.
• The Nationals are 38-25 in the NL East, the Braves are 34-23, while the Phillies are 25-32.
• The Reds are 41-26 in their NL Central, the Cardinals are 36-29, the Pirates are 35-33, and the Brewers are 40-30.
• The Giants are 32-21 in the NL West, but the Dodgers are just 28-35.

The fact that the Rangers are just 19-19 against their AL West counterparts is pretty amazing and the White Sox being below .500 against their own division is also intriguing. The Rangers are 10 over .500 against the Central and the White Sox are 20-9 against the West.

The biggest down numbers though come from the Phillies and the Dodgers in their divisions and they explain why their hopes rest solely on the Wild Card.

The AL Wild Card Standings:

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	vEast	vCent	vWest
1	TEX	85	57	.599	---	24-16	28-18	19-19
2	OAK	82	60	.577	---	25-15	22-16	25-21
3	BAL	80	62	.563	---	34-24	23-15	12-16
4	NYY	80	62	.563	---	30-28	19-15	18-14
5	TBR	77	65	.542	---	31-25	13-17	24-14
6	LAA	77	66	.538	0.5	22-20	20-19	23-21
7	CHW	76	66	.535	1.0	18-18	29-30	20-9
8	DET	75	67	.528	2.0	21-18	32-23	11-19
9	SEA	69	74	.483	8.5	18-24	25-16	18-24
10	KCR	65	77	.458	12.0	16-21	28-27	13-19
11	TOR	64	77	.454	12.5	24-31	18-16	13-21
12	BOS	64	79	.448	13.5	21-32	24-16	8-24
13	CLE	59	84	.413	18.5	14-22	23-31	14-21
14	MIN	59	84	.413	18.5	10-18	29-30	11-27

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/13/2012.

The NL Wild Card Standings:

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	vEast	vCent	vWest
1	WSN	89	54	.622	---	38-25	26-9	15-12
2	CIN	87	57	.604	---	18-13	41-26	21-10
3	SFG	81	62	.566	---	15-19	27-14	32-21
4	ATL	81	63	.563	---	34-23	18-17	21-13
5	STL	75	68	.524	---	12-19	36-29	19-13
6	LAD	74	69	.517	1.0	19-10	21-15	28-35
7	PIT	72	70	.507	2.5	14-10	35-33	13-19
8	PHI	72	71	.503	3.0	25-32	23-13	19-16
9	MIL	72	71	.503	3.0	11-16	40-30	15-16
10	ARI	71	72	.497	4.0	14-20	18-20	30-26
11	SDP	69	75	.479	6.5	12-20	21-19	28-29
12	NYM	65	78	.455	10.0	27-33	13-19	17-19
13	MIA	63	81	.438	12.5	23-34	16-19	19-15
14	COL	57	85	.401	17.5	15-22	16-19	24-31
15	CHC	56	87	.392	19.0	13-19	27-41	11-17
16	HOU	45	98	.315	30.0	9-19	22-42	8-28

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/13/2012.