The 4th or the 7th Seed - How Does the Final Day of the 2020 Regular Season Line Up for the Indians?

The Indians had a golden opportunity as they entered play on Saturday to clinch a higher-seed in the American League for the upcoming MLB postseason.

Instead, they were smacked in the face by the worst team in baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates, suffering an 8-0 loss that saw them fall behind by eight runs in the first four innings, and only pound out five hits on the day.

So now that they are back to being the seventh seed, what does the final day of the regular season look like for the Indians as well as the rest of the American League.

Let's start with the one through eight rankings:

No. 1 Rays vs. No. 8 Blue Jays
No. 2 Twins vs. No. 7 Cleveland
No. 3 A's vs. No. 6 Astros
No. 4 White Sox vs. No. 5 Yankees

It was just 24 hours ago that the Indians were the four-seed, meaning they would host the New York Yankees at Progressive Field, but with Saturday's loss, that quickly dissolved and they are back to the seven-seed.

With the seven-seed, the Tribe would head to a place they haven't played well this season, Target Field, to take on the Twins.

How bad have the Indians been playing in Minnesota this season? How about 1-6, with the one win being the very first game they played there with Shane Bieber throwing a masterpiece in a 2-0 win.

Since that time, Bieber has suffered his only loss there, and the team simply has not hit in Minnesota.

So how do the Indians get back to the four-seed? It's not that complicated, but there's still work to be done.

The first thing is the Indians need to win their 3:10pm game at home today against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The team will throw out Cal Quantrill and make it a bullpen game, and while right away fans may think the Indians are "giving up" with a bullpen game, don't forget the last time out they got four solid innings from Quantrill and they won their "bullpen" game against the Chicago White Sox.

So let's say the Indians take care of business and win against the Pirates, ending the regular season at 35-25.

The other thing that has to take place is the Tribe needs help from an old foe, the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs will take on the Chicago White Sox in a game also scheduled to start at 3:10pm today, and the Indians if they are going to move up in the AL seeding, need the Cubs to top the Sox.

The Cubs will send out Adbert Alzolay (0-1, 3.31) against the White Sox and Reynaldo Lopez (1-2, 4.68).

IF the Cubs top the White Sox and the Indians win, they would start the playoffs at home against the Yankees on Tuesday. 

If the Indians lose or the White Sox win, the road to getting to the ALDS gets a lot tougher, as the Indians would then travel to Minnesota (if the Twins win of if they lose and the White Sox and Oakland loses), or Oakland (if they win, the Twins lose and the White Sox lose).

Can the Indians still play the White Sox in the best-of-three? 

Yes.

The Sox need to beat the Cubs, and have the Twins and A's both lose. 

So as of now, the Indians are looking at one of four matchups - the Yankees (if they are the 4 seed), the A's, the Twins, or the White Sox.

We will now how it all plays out this afternoon, as the Indians look to make it truly an "October to remember."