The Angels are first in line to celebrate a postseason berth.

LA pounded the Mariners, 8-1, at home Monday night and secured at least a wild-card spot in the American League.

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The Angels were happy, of course, but also matter-of-fact about making the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

"When the time comes, I'm pretty sure everybody is going to celebrate," said Albert Pujols, who drove in the Angels' first three runs with a double before suffering a cramp in his right hamstring. "Just because Tommy Tremble Jerseys you earn a spot, that doesn't mean you've done your job."

The Halos' next task is to win the West. Their magic number is 3.

On the other coast, the Beltway teams are thisclose to joining them in the tournament.

The Orioles and Nationals cut their divisional magic numbers to 1 and 2, respectively, on Monday after beating the teams directly below them. The O's topped the Blue Jays, 5-2, in a heated affair, while the Nats held off the Braves, 4-2. Wins on Tuesday vs. the same opponents will seal the deals.

"It's pretty special to come in here (Tuesday) and have a chance to do that," O's manager Buck Showalter told reporters. "I've had a lot of sleeple s nights for a lot of reasons, but tonight I look forward to losing that sleep. It's been a long hard grind to have that opportunity, and I'm looking forward to the chance to see our guys get a chance."

Not that Baltimore needed extra motivation to lock down the AL East, but it certainly isn't happy with the Jays after rookie right-hander Marcus Stroman threw behind the head of catcher Caleb Joseph in apparent retaliation for Joseph blocking off Toronto's Jose Reyes on an earlier play at the plate.

"It really pushed the hot button with all of us because It certainly wasn't called for," Showalter told reporters. "That was obvious. It was borderline profe sionally embarra sing."

Stroman, naturally, said the pitch A.J. Bouye Jerseys just got away.

The Nats were in a tense game of their own at Atlanta, but that was of their own doing. They almost squandered a four-run lead before Drew Storen got the final out in the ninth.

"We get there when we get there, but right now, we'll just focus on day by day and try to play clean baseball," shortstop Ian Desmond told reporters, .

While Baltimore and Washington were getting closer to spraying bubbly, the Royals were dumping Gatorade on themselves after a wacky 4-3 walkoff (more like a runoff) win over the White Sox.

KC used its blazing speed to score twice in the bottom of the ninth. Jarrod Dyson came around from second on a stolen base/wild pitch to tie the game, and pinch runner Terrance Gore scored from second on an infield single by Lorenzo Cain to win it.

"I was definitely going to be safe," Cain said. "I just put it in play and ran. They ended up bobbling the ball and Gore scored. I was definitely thinking (Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez would) field it and hold on. (Gore is) fast. It's a huge win for the boys."

The Royals badly needed that rally, given that the Tigers were grinding out an 8-6 win over the Twins in Minnesota. Torii Hunter and Miguel Cabrera went back-to-back in the ninth to break a tie, after the Detroit 'pen coughed up a two-run lead in the eighth. The Tigers' cushion in the AL Central remains 1 1/2 games.

The Angels might not have any stre s about the postseason, but they do have sudden injury concerns. In addition to Pujols' hamstring, starter Matt Shoemaker left with rib discomfort. Pujols told reporters he hopes to play Tuesday. Shoemaker will undergo an MRI exam but told reporters he felt fine.

Seattle fell two games behind the Royals for the second AL wild card with the lo s.

In the NL, the Dodgers stretched their lead over the Giants to four games. LA crushed the Rockies, 11-3, in Denver while the Giants were losing, 6-2, to the Diamondbacks in Phoenix.

MAGIC NUMBERS

AL: Orioles, 1; Tigers, 12; Angels Sam Mills Jerseys , 3; NL: Nationals, 2; Cardinals, 10; Dodgers, 9.

AL CENTRAL

Detroit, 84-66, ---

Kansas City, 82-67, 1.5 GB

AL WILD CARD

Oakland, 83-66, +1

Kansas City, 82-67, ---

Seattle, 80-69, 2 GB

Toronto, 77-72, 5 GB

Cleveland, 76-73, 6 GB

New York, 76-73, 6 GB

NL CENTRAL

St. Louis, 83-67, ---

Pittsburgh, 79-70, 3.5 GB

Milwaukee, 78-72, 5 GB

NL WEST

Los Angeles, 86-64, ---

San Francisco, 82-68, 4 GB

NL WILD CARD

San Francisco, 82-68, +2.5

Pittsburgh, 79-70, ---

Milwaukee, 78-72, 1.5 GB

TUESDAY'S KEY GAMES

American League

Toronto (Hutchison 10-11) at Baltimore (U.Jimenez 4-9), 7:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox (Ba sitt 0-1) at Kansas City (Hendriks 1-2), 8:10 p.m.

Detroit (Porcello 15-11) at Minnesota (Nolasco 5-11), 8:10 p.m.

Seattle (Elias 10-12) at L.A. Angels (Cor.Rasmus 3-1), 10:05 p.m.

Texas (Tepesch 4-10) at Oakland (Kazmir 14-8), 10:05 p.m.

National League

Washington (Roark 13-10) at Atlanta (Harang 11-10), 7:10 p.m.

Royce Freeman Jerseys

Milwaukee (W.Peralta 16-10) at St. Louis (Lynn 15-9), 8:15 p.m.

L.A. Dodgers (Haren 13-10) at Colorado (Matzek 5-10), 8:40 p.m.

San Francisco (Peavy 5-4) at Arizona (Collmenter 10-7), 9:40 p.m.

Interleague

Boston (Ranaudo 3-2) at Pittsburgh (Morton 5-12), 7:05 p.m.

The A sociated Pre s contributed to this report.