Imagine the American League East finishing the way Dan Szymborski's projections say they will

Judging from the way I felt Sunday afternoon in the eighth and ninth, I will need a lot of help to deal with a Blue Jays postseason run, especially if the regular season ends with the standings looking how Dan Szymborski's ZiPS project them to be:

ZiPS Mean Projected Standings, 6/29/15 #15ZiPS pic.twitter.com/ynux5n2hCt

— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) June 29, 2015

The Yankees and Orioles are projected to finish tied for first in the American Leagues with the Rays, and Blue Jays just one game behind tied for third in the division, but tied for second in the wild card. In this situation, the Yankees and Orioles will play an extra regular season tiebreaker game (a.k.a. "game 163") on Monday, October 5 to determine the AL East Champion and the first wild card seed on the same day that the Rays and Jays play their own game 163 to determine the second wild card seed. (Intriguingly, Jays end their season at Tropicana Field on October 4.) The next day, the loser of the Yankees-Orioles game will play the winner of the Rays-Jays game in the wildcard playoff to determine who will face the Royals the day after that.

Of course, ZiPS is a projection system and not a crystal ball, but it is fun to think about the possibility of having four AL East teams fighting for two postesason spots. I would need to be hooked up to a heart monitor but I would love every minute of it (unless the Blue Jays lose, of course). It would be nice if the Blue Jays do acquire some pitching help that could help them pull away from the pack and make the last month of the regular season slightly less nailbiting.

Right now--in reality land--the Blue Jays sit in fourth place in the division with a record of 41-36. They are one game back of the Orioles and Rays for first place (and the first wild card slot) and are, along with the Twins, a half-game back of the second wild card slot, held by the Yankees.