Visualizing the AL Wild Card chase as a horse race

With two weeks to go in the 2017 regular season, the American League Wild Card chase is heating up. It's rare to see this many teams fighting for two spots this late in the season, but the second Wild Card era has made the stretch run as chaotic as ever. As a result, eight teams remain in contention for the vaunted one-game playoff to be played on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

And what better way to keep track of the chaos than with this: The AL Wild Card Horse Race. Click to enlarge.



Throughout the month of September, the madness that is the AL Wild Card race will be documented with this handy graphic. The eight Wild Card hopefuls (organized alphabetically by city) -- the Orioles, Royals, Angels, Twins, Yankees, Mariners, Rays, and Rangers -- are each represented by a horse galloping toward the 2017 postseason.

The Wild Card horses are ordered according to the latest standings, with the number of "Games Back" and "Games Ahead" designated at the bottom. The two teams currently holding the Wild Card spots are designated with a gold and silver star, for the first and second Wild Card spots respectively.