Thursday brings us the last day of the regular season with some teams having a day off. After this one, it's just three games remaining for every team, including a Sunday with every game starting within 15 minutes of each other. We've gotta get there first, though, and here's what the playoff picture looks like. Onward. 

Thursday's scores

Cubs get some breathing room

If the Cubs lost against the Pirates on Thursday night, then they'd fall into a tie with the Brewers atop the NL Central standings. If they won, they'd lead Milwaukee by a game going into the final series of the season. They did indeed win and did so in shutout fashion. Jon Lester twirled six scoreless frames, and the bullpen made it stand up. 

On offense, David Bote tallied a clutch, two-out triple, but a mishap in the Pittsburgh outfield set it up ... 

Not optimal! Anyhow, that new one-game lead is big for the Cubs, since they'll host the desperate Cardinals while the Brewers will be at home against the lowly Tigers. 

Rockies complete sweep of Phils, build lead in NL West

The smoking-hot Rockies on Thursday completed a four-game sweep of the Phillies, and for the fourth game in a row David Dahl went deep ... 

Also in this one, Trevor Story hit his 35th home run of the season, and Wade Davis recorded his 42nd save, which is a new franchise single-season record. 

Over the course of that sweep, the Rockies outscored the mailin'-it-in Phillies by a margin of 39-7, and overall Colorado has now won seven straight (they're also now 17-8 in September). More to the point, the Rockies now hold a full one-game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West with three to play. Speaking of three to play, the Rockies finish up the regular season at home against the Nationals, while the Dodgers visit the Giants. 

The Rockies will clinch a postseason berth with one more win and one more loss by the Cardinals. 

Yankees destroy Rays, move up two on A's

There were some fireworks in the middle innings in which CC Sabathia possibly threw away a half million bucks to stand up for his teammate (full story here), but the game itself was a laugher. The Yankees stormed out of the gate with a four-run first inning, the exclamation point being a three-run shot by Rookie of the Year candidate Miguel Andujar: 

It built into a rout with a three-run Yankees fourth and they'd add four more in the sixth and then Giancarlo Stanton's second homer of the game made it 12-1 in the ninth. Stanton now has 37 on the season. 

What was most important here was the Yankees' win and its playoff implications. Heading into the day, they had a 1 1/2 game lead over the A's for the top wild-card spot in the AL. Obviously, with the A's off Thursday, that lead is now two games with three to play. We now are overwhelmingly more likely to see the game played next Wednesday in Yankee Stadium than Oakland Coliseum. 

Braves' home-field hopes take a hit

Atlanta got a strong start from Julio Teheran (one run on two hits in six innings) and a pair of hits from Ronald Acuna. However, the Mets, thanks to seven shutout innings from Jason Vargas and a pair of homers, picked up the win. The Braves are left still looking for win No. 90 on the season. 

As well, they now have the same record as the NL West-leading Rockies, who, if paces hold, they'll face in the NLDS. If they wind up with the same record, then the Rockies would claim home-field advantage in the best-of-five LDS since they won the regular-season series against the Braves. Also, the Braves' loss in tandem with the Cubs' win on Thursday night means that Atlanta has no chance to be the top overall seed in the NL. 

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