Just two weeks to go, and although MLB may have released its 2010 schedule already, and finally decided that the ludicrous rule of using coin flips to decide home field advantage in one-off playoffs will be repealed, there’s still some excitement left in the 2009 races, and the upcoming week will probably make the play-off picture a little more clear.
In the AL East, New York are still six games up over Boston, and a victory today (alongside a Rangers loss) could clinch them a definite place in the play-offs. Despite losing a series to the Baltimore Orioles last weekend, splitting a two-game outing against the Blue Jays midweek, and currently facing a rubber match against Seattle today, the Yankees are doing just enough to keep their noses in front, despite an entertaining bench-clearing fracas on Tuesday night against Toronto. Meanwhile, Boston are now seven games up in the AL wild card race thanks to a disappointing slump by the Texas Rangers, but the Red Sox themselves sure helped their cause with a seven-game winning streak that was only halted on Thursday against the Angels. On Tuesday evening, David Ortiz became the career leader among designated hitters with 270 home runs, surpassing Frank Thomas.
Despite the Phillies being seven games up in the NL East, both Florida and Atlanta still have plenty to play for in the wild card race. Philadelphia took three out of four over the Mets last weekend, then proceeded to follow this up with a sweep of the Nationals, but strangely enough, a cute video of a small girl and her father at a Phillies game was probably their biggest hit of the week. Florida and Atlanta are four and 4.5 games behind the Rockies and Giants in the NL wild card respectively, eagerly anticipating any slip-ups. Florida lost two out of three to the Nationals last weekend, but rebounded with an impressive series victory at St. Louis. Today’s final game in a four-game series against the Reds will be another crucial game for them. Meanwhile, the Braves have been on a bit of a roll. Seven successive victories have put them right back in the wild card chase and a victory over the Phillies today could be another important step.
Over the last few weeks, Detroit’s five or six game advantage at the top of the AL Central had appeared insurmountable to Twins fans, but today things are looking a little different. The Tigers lost three out of four games at Kansas where victories instead may have all-but clinched the division. But the Minnesota Twins have continued to eat away at their lead, reducing the gap to just two games. Minnesota, despite losing both Justin Morneau and Joe Crede through injury, have won six games straight, and if they complete a sweep over the Tigers today to reduce the gap to just one game, they could make things very interesting. The Royals have certainly enjoyed playing spoiler before, and the Twins still have to face them six more times, and will have to rely on Detroit continuing their meltdown to clinch the division.
In the NL Central, St. Louis have had a quieter time of late despite still topping the division by 11 games. The Cardinals were swept by the resurgent Braves last weekend, then lost two out of three to the Marlins. This weekend, they’ve picked things up a bit with two successive walk-off victories over the Cubs, and are now just four wins away from clinching the division. Mathematically, the Cubs are still in it, having won a series over the Reds last weekend, and splitting four games with the Brewers midweek. Alfonso Soriano underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Tuesday but is recovering well despite being out for the rest of the year. In Milwaukee, the Brewers are just a game away from elimination, but were delighted to see slugger Prince Fielder break Cecil Cooper’s 26-year old franchise record for RBIs in a season when he hit number 127 on Saturday.
Out in the AL West, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are now 6.5 games up over the Texas Rangers. The Halos have hardly been lighting up the league this week, but instead it’s the Rangers themselves who have practically played themselves out of contention. Up until last week, Texas was well in touch in the wild card race, but last weekend they lost two out of three to the Seattle Mariners before being swept by the A’s at Oakland, a three-game series in which Texas managed to put just a single run on the board the entire series. To make matters worse, that sweep was sandwiched by a 0-5 loss at Seattle and 0-2 loss at Los Angeles, so five straight losses in which the usually big-hitting Rangers scored just one solitary run has pretty much put pay to their play-off hopes this year, a disappointing end to what had been a very productive season. Oakland may well and truly be out of contention, but have managed six-straight wins now the pressure is off, and consecutive series victories over Minnesota, Texas, and Cleveland will give this young team hope for next year.
The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to lead the NL West, holding off the teams below them whenever they start to surge. LA is five games up over the Rockies, who in turn are 3.5 games up over San Francisco. The Dodgers took two out of three over the Giants last weekend, before dispatching the Pirates in a midweek sweep, complete with Andre Ethier’s sixth walk-off hit of the year. The rubber game today in a three-game series against the Giants will be far more important for San Francisco than for the Dodgers. Colorado has had mixed fortunes of late. They still lead the wild card by 3.5 games, and the most crucial result for them this week was taking the final game in a three-game series against San Francisco, despite losing the first two. A victory today over the Diamondbacks, and a Giants’ loss to the Dodgers, will certainly give the Rox a little more breathing room down the stretch. With five games against the D’Backs and four against the Cubs for San Francisco to round off their season, not only will the Giants have to pretty much win a huge majority of them, they’ll have to hope the Rockies slip up.
Well, that wraps up another eventful week in the MLB. Back next week with probably the last column of the year where we will most likely have a clearer idea of who has progressed to the post-season.