In Canto IV of his Inferno, the poet Dante — led by other, more dead poet Virgil — enters a level of hell reserved predominantly for those people who had the misfortune of predating Christ. One can ask reasonable questions about the justice of this arrangement — is it the fault of Socrates, for example, that he was died before the arrival of an unborn prophet? — but neither Virgil nor Dante nor even the occupants of this region appear to be lodging any serious complaints.

While this intermediate state, known as Limbo, is technically situated within the first circle of hell, it doesn’t feature any of the punishments typically associated with the underworld. No fire or rivers of fire or anything involving fire, really. It’s mostly a bunch of guys sitting around.

Today, we find ourselves in a kind of baseball Limbo*, occupying a place on the schedule that’s technically situated within the regular season but possessing all trappings of a postseason game. It is very strange.

*It’s possible that Dante’s Purgatorio actually serves as a more apt metaphor for these Game 163s, but the author hasn’t read it and has no plans to do so for the moment.

Indeed, the purpose of post is less to meditate on the finer points of a long Italian poem and more to announce that a number of FanGraphs writers will be attempting to understand the strangeness of baseball Limbo in real time today during an extended “live chat” that will start around 1pm ET and continue for the duration of this afternoon’s divisional tiebreakers. Chats for the Wild Card games on Tuesday and Wednesday will follow, as well.

Here’s the playoff chat schedule for the next few days. Times in ET and presented in sophisticated 24-hour format. (Note: prospect and fantasy chats not included here.)

Monday
13:00 Game 163s Live Chat Jubilee

Tuesday
20:00 National League Wild Card Game

Wednesday
20:00 American League Wild Card Game

This is the sixth installment of this year’s Team Entropy series, my recurring look not only at the races for the remaining playoff spots but the potential for end-of-season chaos in the form of down-to-the-wire suspense and even tiebreakers. Ideally, we want more ties than the men’s department at Macy’s. If you’re new to this, please read the introduction here.

We’re not quite to the promised land of Game 163 tiebreakers, but for the 14th time in 15 seasons, we’ve got playoff spots to be decided on the final day of the regular season, though the identities of all the participants are sewn up. Thanks to Saturday’s combination of outcomes, with the the Brewers gaining a game on the Cubs in the NL Central and the Dodgers doing the same to the Rockies in the NL West, the aforementioned divisions are tied, with the Central teams 94-67 and the West teams 90-71. The Cardinals, who had remained alive in the race for the second Wild Card spot, were eliminated from the picture despite beating the Cubs, because the Dodgers piled up a bunch of runs late to beat the Giants. We of Team Entropy thank them for their service, and look to the possibility of the first set of multiple tiebreaker games in MLB history.

It comes down to this:

• If the Brewers (who host the Tigers) and the Cubs (who host the Cardinals) match results — both winning or both losing — the two teams will square off in Chicago (which won the season series 11-8) on Monday for a Game 163 tiebreaker. The winner of that game wins the NL Central and thus claims the top seed in the Senior Circuit, while the loser hosts the Wild Card game on Tuesday.

• If the Rockies (who host the Nationals) and the Dodgers (who play the Giants in San Francisco) match results — again, both winning or both losing — the two teams will meet in Los Angeles (which won the season series 12-7) on Monday for a Game 163 tiebreaker as well. The victor wins the NL West and faces the Braves (also 90-71) in the Division Series, while the loser will be the road team in the Wild Card game. The seeding regarding the division winner and the Braves is at also stake, but both NL West teams have the tiebreaker on Atlanta by dint of winning their season series 5-2.

If either of these scenarios comes to fruition, we’ll have the first tiebreaker game in MLB since 2013, when the Rays beat the Rangers to become the second AL Wild Card team, and if both happen, again, history! All of Sunday’s relevant games — in fact, the entire slate of 15 games — are set to begin at 3:05 pm Eastern, so that no team has an advantage in scoreboard watching.

If you’re wondering about pitching matchups, here’s what’s going down. In Milwaukee, the Brewers are starting August 31 acquisition Gio Gonzalez, with the Tigers countering with rookie Spencer Turnbull. In Chicago, the Cubs are starting Mike Montgomery while the Cardinals are going with Jack Flaherty, who has earned Rookie of the Year consideration (but isn’t likely to beat out Juan Soto or Ronald Acuña). In Denver, the Rockies are going with Tyler Anderson, while the Nationals have opted not to pitch Cy Young candidate Max Scherzer, instead tabbing the much less imposing Erick Fedde. In San Francisco, the Dodgers have decided to save hotshot rookie Walker Buehler for a potential tiebreaker or Wild Card game and instead go with Dick Mountain, er, Rich Hill to counter the Giants’ Andrew Suárez.

Charge up those devices and pile up those screens, because you’ll need multiple ones to follow along!

This is the fifth installment of this year’s Team Entropy series, my recurring look not only at the races for the remaining playoff spots but the potential for end-of-season chaos in the form of down-to-the-wire suspense and even tiebreakers. Ideally, we want more ties than the men’s department at Macy’s. If you’re new to this, please read the introduction here.

In the National League playoff picture, we’re down to two teams — the Dodgers (89-71) and Cardinals (87-73) — fighting for one spot, as the Rockies (90-70) clinched a postseason berth on Friday night by beating the Nationals for their eighth straight win. That said, neither the NL Central nor the NL West races have been decided, nor have the actual Wild Card game participants, leaving open the possibility that we could have multiple Game 163 tiebreakers on Monday. The dream scenario of needing a third tiebreaker game, in the event that the two NL West participants (the Dodgers and Rockies) finished tied with St. Louis, is off the table given the Cardinals’ back-to-back losses to the Brewers (93-67) and Cubs (94-66).

On Friday afternoon, I had the privilege of appearing on MLB Network’s MLB Now, where host Brian Kenny put the spotlight on Team Entropy at the top of the show and allowed me to talk through the various scenarios:

Pretty cool! Except that the Cardinals were busy getting pummeled by the Cubs as that happened — the show kept cutting away to the action — simplifying the picture somewhat. So here is what’s left…

The Cubs, who are hosting the Cardinals, and the Brewers, who are hosting the Tigers, can still finish in a tie after 162 games if Milwaukee can pick up a game this weekend. Either the Brew Crew goes 2-0 while the Cubs go 1-1, or 1-1 while the Cubs go 0-2. That would leave the two teams playing on Monday in Chicago (which won the season series 11-8) to determine which one wins the division, and which hosts the Wild Card game. As of Saturday morning, our playoff odds ties page shows a 25.9% chance of such an occurrence.

Likewise, the Rockies, who are hosting the Nationals, and the Dodgers, who are visiting the Giants, can finish tied if Los Angeles can pick up a game. The Dodgers, who won the season series 12-7, would host a tiebreaker game on Monday to determine the division winner, and second Wild Card team. Our ties page gives this game a 34.1% chance of happening.

Alternately, if the Cardinals win both of their remaining games and the Dodgers lose both of theirs, the two teams would be tied for the second Wild Card spot. They would play on Monday in St. Louis, which won the season series 4-3. This scenario can happen in tandem with an NL Central tie if the Brewers also split their remaining pair of games. The odds of a Wild Card tie are down to 2.4%, but that’s better than nothing, particularly with a second tiebreaker game also still an option.

With the Cubs and Cardinals playing at 1:05 pm Eastern, the Dodgers and Giants at 4:05, the Brewers and Tigers at 7:05 pm and the Rockies and Nationals at 8:10 pm, we have the whole day to savor the possibilities for chaos. Enjoy!