MLB's Final Push to the Playoffs

With a week left in the season, there are still four division races up for grabs. If you're a fan of Major League Baseball, this is either an exciting time for you or gut wrenching (hey, Red Sox fans!). If you're Astros, Pirates, Devil Rays or Rangers fans, you're already looking ahead to next season. Giants fans have to figure out what their team will do without Barry Bonds limping around left field next year. My guess is win a few more games. Let's look at the last week of the season and see what there is to watch for.

What's Up in the East?
Both the Red Sox and the Mets are headed in the wrong direction as the playoffs approach. Neither team has a winning record in the last 10 games (both are 4-6, actually). And both have hot teams nipping a their heals. The Yankees have come all the way back from their miserable first half of the season and have closed to within 1.5 games headed into the last week. The Sox have lost 5 of their last 7 including a sweep by the Blue Jays and a loss today to the Devil Rays (yes, the same team that is 28 games back and began mailing it in around Cinco de Mayo). They finish out their schedule at home against two games against Oakland and four against Minnesota, two teams that have begun making vacation plans.

New York has games against Baltimore and Tampa after they finish their series with Toronto. Winners of 6 of their last 7, the Yankees will certainly make the last week difficult for Red Sox fans. They've already begun stocking bars in Boston with extra defibrillators and paramedics are on standby. By way of consolation for Beantown, their team became the first to clinch a playoff berth this weekend. But I'm sure that's not going to satisfy anyone if those D*** Yankees win the division.

Over in the National League, the Mets bought themselves a little breathing room with an 11th inning win over Florida. The sweep, coupled with a loss by Philadelphia, gives New York a 2.5 game cushion, usually plenty of room going into the last week. But we've seen stranger things. The Mets finish up with series against Washington and Florida with a game against St. Louis sandwiched in the middle. And they'll be finishing up their season in Shea.

Philadelphia had a nice run to make the division race interesting. The odds are against them catching the Mets, though. The week should still be fun to watch, as they also finish out at home against teams in their rear view mirror. They'll host Atlanta and Washington. Too bad Mark Teixeira can't pitch, Atlanta.

The Other Close Races
The rest of the American League has been decided. The Angels clinched their third AL West title in four years with a win over Seattle. Cleveland clinched their first Division title since 2001 with their defeat of the A's.

That leaves the NL West and the NL Central. Out west, the D-Backs hold a 2.5 game lead on the Padres and look to be in the driver's seat. Colorado's weekend sweep of San Diego certainly didn't help the Padres' chances. Neither does finishing out the season at San Francisco and at Milwaukee. Arizona finishes at Pittsburgh and at Colorado. Is there a chance the Rockies could play to decide their own fate on the final weekend of the season? The magic 8-ball says, future is hazy. Stupid 8-ball.

In the Central, there are still some teams playing. I think. Seriously, there are three teams ahead of the Cubs for the wild card spot ... and Chicago's leading it's division. Could there be a more irrelevant race? Milwaukee tried to make a push, but just came out of their 7-game road trip with a 3-4 record. Meanwhile the Cubs have won four in a row and 8 of their last 10. They'll make the playoffs and postpone their hunting trips for a week, while they get beat up by their divisional round opponent.

The Wild Cards
Hang on, the end is in sight. The AL Wild Card will be the team that doesn't win in the East (isn't that usually the way it goes?). The Yankees are closer to the Red Sox in the division than they are to the second place team in the Wild Card race (which happens to be Detroit, so much for the repeat).

The NL Wild Card race is much more interesting. The Padres hold a .5 game lead on Philly and a 1.5 game lead on Colorado. Before the aforementioned sweep, San Diego had reeled off 7 wins in a row. Impressive, but not as impressive as the 8-game streak the Rockies are currently on. They have the momentum and they're playing just as good on the road as they are at home. This looks like the most exciting race left on the card.

Everyone Else
The Giants fans have three more chances to say goodbye to Barry, who will not be back in San Fran next year. The Dodgers have three more chances to try to get under Bonds' skin. Good luck with that. I hear it's hard to penetrate all those layers of the clear and the cream. Astros fans may have a chance to see Craig Biggio catch again on the last day of the season. Braves fans may have a chance to see every player on their roster record a stolen base on the last day of the season. And Tampa Bay has a tough week ahead of them as they try to hold off Florida and Pittsburgh for the worst record in the league.

For a year when records were broken, milestones were reached and Tony LaRussa went through 273 different identical pairs of sunglasses, this has been a pretty mediocre year. No team will finish with 100 wins. The bench clearing brawls weren't that exciting. Bonds didn't rip off his "skin" to reveal his cybernetic forearm. And Dane Cook is the promotional voice of the playoffs on TBS. Where's the drama? Where's the excitement? Where's Jack Bauer?

Hey, as Yogi Berra once might have said because it sounds like something he would say: It ain't over til it's over!

Comment by Bruce Horst⁽²⁾ (251 days 13 hours ago.)