MLB American League 2013 Wild Card Standings & Race: Tampa Bay & Cleveland Maintain Hold on Wild Card Spots With Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, & New York Yankees Fading

Tampa Bay Rays / Baltimore Orioles
The Rays have been solidifying their hold on the top stop in the American League Wild Card standings, splitting their four-game home series against the Texas Rangers over the week and beating the Baltimore Orioles three in a row over the weekend, including a 3-1 victory Sunday afternoon. The Rays remain a half-game ahead of Cleveland and 1 ½ games ahead of Texas.

The Orioles have lost four out of their last six games and fallen 4 ½ games behind Cleveland for the second wild card spot in the postseason.

"We'll have to get little cooperation mathematically, but you'd be surprised how quickly the outlook on things change in one day's time," said Baltimore manager Buck Showalter.

Cleveland Indians
Cleveland held on to the second wild-card spot sweeping the Houston Astros over the weekend, managing to stay ahead of Texas, Kansas City, New York, and Baltimore in the AL Wild-card standings with a week left in the season. Cleveland manager Terry Francona is very confident that his team can finish the season strong and make their first postseason appearance since 2007.

"We've got a week to go and we're in a fun spot," said Francona. "We have to keep winning."

Texas Rangers / Kansas City Royals
The Rangers continue their horrendous slump, having lost 15 out of their 20 games the month of September, including a 10-inning, 4-0 gut-punch loss, Sunday afternoon, to the Kansas City Royals after Royals right fielder Justin Maxwell blasted a two-out grand slam home run in extra innings to save the Royals' chance at a postseason, ending the day 3 ½ games behind Cleveland for the second wild-card spot.

The Rangers bats have been impotent during their September swoon, getting shut out for the 11th time this season and 53rd time they scored two runs or less.

"We certainly had opportunities to score runs," manager Texas manager Ron Washington said after the Kansas City game. "We just didn't do it."

New York Yankees
New York chances of making the postseason keeping slipping away, losing 2-1 on a day where the Yankees were honoring Mariano Rivera's and Andy Pettitte's career. The Yankees dropped four games back of Cleveland for the second wild-card spot with six games left in their schedule - three against the Tampa Bay Rays, who lead the AL Wild-card standings and three games against Houston.

"I appreciate this day, what the organization did, the fans that were here supporting me," said Rivera. "That was good, but at the end it wasn't that great because we lost the game."