Overview

• The race tightened Friday as Cincinnati beat Milwaukee 3-1 and New York fell 6-2 in Miami, leaving both teams 82-78 with two games to play.
• Cincinnati owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over New York after a 4-2 season series, so a tie sends the Reds through under MLB’s no–Game 163 rules.
• The Reds can clinch as soon as Saturday with any combination of two that includes their wins and Mets losses this weekend, per MLB’s outlined scenarios.
• Arizona was officially eliminated, narrowing the final NL Wild Card to the Reds and Mets after the Dodgers clinched the NL West earlier this week.
• MLB Network’s Mark DeRosa says both challengers have a puncher’s chance against Los Angeles, citing a Lodolo–Greene–Abbott plan for Cincinnati and the Mets’ playoff-tested bats and Nolan McLean’s swing-and-miss stuff.