Pennant Race Entering Last Week of August
The Pennant Race approaches another milestone toward post season action as the deadline for freezing post season rosters in August 31st meaning any attempt to add players through the waiver process must be completed by then or those additional players cannot play beyond the end of the regular season.
American League:
Tampa Bay is for real. It’s the end of August folks. They have the best record as the Rays keep on winning and the Angels have hit a little bit of a skid which ironically included a trip to…TAMPA BAY!!! That big old warehouse is a miserable place to play for visitors but the boys from the Bay find home sweet home a-okay for smacking their opponents, including Boston, senseless. Folks might remember that on 8/23/89, the Baltimore Orioles were two games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays after suffering a historically poor season in 1988, leading the AL for most of the 1989 season. Folks might compare the Rays to the ’89 O’s, however, the Rays appear to be more rock solid having the ability to withstand significant injuries and continue on their roll. Now it’s the White Sox turn to suffer as they host Tampa who has beat them for their first two games of their weekend series pushing Minnesota, a team banished to the road for a couple weeks, is out in California playing the Angels. This kind of head-to-head competition helps make the final picture clearer. Minnesota has a one game lead over the White Sox for the Central Division lead while the Red Sox are only ½ game over Chicago in the Wild Card Derby. The Yankees are pretty much all prepped for the final cut. They’re five games behind Chicago and 5 ½ behind the Red Sox for a Wild Card ticket. At eleven games behind Tampa Bay, a division championship looks out of reach. The Yankees do have home and away series against both Tampa Bay and Boston to their advantage. They also face a two series west coast trip including Los Angeles and a visit from the White Sox. As such, the Yanks do go head-to-head against the teams that need to be pushed aside for them to prosper, but the Yankees have so many lose ends that just aren’t coming together. It’s just hard to believe a team with “Cindy” Ponson on the roster is a contender.
It’s looking like it’s going to be: Tampa Bay, in the East, Chicago or Minnesota in the Central, the Angels already have the West in the bag, and Boston as the Wild Card. The lesser of the Central teams contends with Boston for the Wild Card. Short of Joe Girardi having his men have a séance on the field and summon the ghosts from monument park for guidance, a Yankee miracle seems like a long shot.
National League:
The races look a little hotter in the senior circuit with the Mets and the Phillies separated by two games, New York’s advantage in the East. The Chicago Cubs aren’t giving the Brewers and closer margin maintaining a strong five game lead and the best record in the National League. The West puts Arizona against the Dodgers with the Diamondbacks up by three games depending on the outcome of tonight’s game. The Dodgers are only one game over .500. Where’s the spark that Manny Ramirez was supposed to bring. They’ve added veteran starter Greg Maddux. But the Dodgers must do better than play 5-5 in their last ten games if they’re going to advance. The Brewers lead division rival, St. Louis by three games for the Wild Card lead, behind them, four games in arrears is Philadelphia.
Milwaukee still faces the Cubs on the road and finishes the year at home against them while having lots of games against other competitors including visiting St. Louis next week. In addition to their action against division rivals, they host New York and visit Philadelphia. It’s a tough schedule for the Brew-Crew, but they will have a strong influence on the National League’s post season line-up. The Phillies host the Mets beginning the week before it’s off to Wrigley Field. They still have a visit to Shea Stadium, and of course, host Milwaukee before facing weaker teams to finish the season.
There’s a lot of interplay between the leaders of the East and the Central with only the Cubs showing the ability to consistently dominate. We’ll give the Central to the Cubs, but between the Mets and the Phillies, it looks like the Mets have a slight edge, but it’s just that. Arizona seems a little stronger than the Dodgers in the West. They face each other home and away to help settle that score. The Brewers are really the best of the rest and would probably win the East or West with relative ease if they weren’t stuck behind the Cubs in the Central. They look like the preferred Wild Card team in the National League.
This is very tentative, but we’ll go with the Mets in the East, Cubs absolutely in the Central, Arizona in the West, and Milwaukee fixing up some Wild Card October Fest barley sodas.
September looks like fun, baseball fans! Only the Los Angeles Angels have completely walked off with their division though the Cubs seem to have a death grip on the NL Central and folks won’t concede anything to the Tampa Bay Rays until foes start getting eliminated.
The Pennant Race approaches another milestone toward post season action as the deadline for freezing post season rosters in August 31st meaning any attempt to add players through the waiver process must be completed by then or those additional players cannot play beyond the end of the regular season.
American League:
Tampa Bay is for real. It’s the end of August folks. They have the best record as the Rays keep on winning and the Angels have hit a little bit of a skid which ironically included a trip to…TAMPA BAY!!! That big old warehouse is a miserable place to play for visitors but the boys from the Bay find home sweet home a-okay for smacking their opponents, including Boston, senseless. Folks might remember that on 8/23/89, the Baltimore Orioles were two games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays after suffering a historically poor season in 1988, leading the AL for most of the 1989 season. Folks might compare the Rays to the ’89 O’s, however, the Rays appear to be more rock solid having the ability to withstand significant injuries and continue on their roll. Now it’s the White Sox turn to suffer as they host Tampa who has beat them for their first two games of their weekend series pushing Minnesota, a team banished to the road for a couple weeks, is out in California playing the Angels. This kind of head-to-head competition helps make the final picture clearer. Minnesota has a one game lead over the White Sox for the Central Division lead while the Red Sox are only ½ game over Chicago in the Wild Card Derby. The Yankees are pretty much all prepped for the final cut. They’re five games behind Chicago and 5 ½ behind the Red Sox for a Wild Card ticket. At eleven games behind Tampa Bay, a division championship looks out of reach. The Yankees do have home and away series against both Tampa Bay and Boston to their advantage. They also face a two series west coast trip including Los Angeles and a visit from the White Sox. As such, the Yanks do go head-to-head against the teams that need to be pushed aside for them to prosper, but the Yankees have so many lose ends that just aren’t coming together. It’s just hard to believe a team with “Cindy” Ponson on the roster is a contender.
It’s looking like it’s going to be: Tampa Bay, in the East, Chicago or Minnesota in the Central, the Angels already have the West in the bag, and Boston as the Wild Card. The lesser of the Central teams contends with Boston for the Wild Card. Short of Joe Girardi having his men have a séance on the field and summon the ghosts from monument park for guidance, a Yankee miracle seems like a long shot.
National League:
The races look a little hotter in the senior circuit with the Mets and the Phillies separated by two games, New York’s advantage in the East. The Chicago Cubs aren’t giving the Brewers and closer margin maintaining a strong five game lead and the best record in the National League. The West puts Arizona against the Dodgers with the Diamondbacks up by three games depending on the outcome of tonight’s game. The Dodgers are only one game over .500. Where’s the spark that Manny Ramirez was supposed to bring. They’ve added veteran starter Greg Maddux. But the Dodgers must do better than play 5-5 in their last ten games if they’re going to advance. The Brewers lead division rival, St. Louis by three games for the Wild Card lead, behind them, four games in arrears is Philadelphia.
Milwaukee still faces the Cubs on the road and finishes the year at home against them while having lots of games against other competitors including visiting St. Louis next week. In addition to their action against division rivals, they host New York and visit Philadelphia. It’s a tough schedule for the Brew-Crew, but they will have a strong influence on the National League’s post season line-up. The Phillies host the Mets beginning the week before it’s off to Wrigley Field. They still have a visit to Shea Stadium, and of course, host Milwaukee before facing weaker teams to finish the season.
There’s a lot of interplay between the leaders of the East and the Central with only the Cubs showing the ability to consistently dominate. We’ll give the Central to the Cubs, but between the Mets and the Phillies, it looks like the Mets have a slight edge, but it’s just that. Arizona seems a little stronger than the Dodgers in the West. They face each other home and away to help settle that score. The Brewers are really the best of the rest and would probably win the East or West with relative ease if they weren’t stuck behind the Cubs in the Central. They look like the preferred Wild Card team in the National League.
This is very tentative, but we’ll go with the Mets in the East, Cubs absolutely in the Central, Arizona in the West, and Milwaukee fixing up some Wild Card October Fest barley sodas.
September looks like fun, baseball fans! Only the Los Angeles Angels have completely walked off with their division though the Cubs seem to have a death grip on the NL Central and folks won’t concede anything to the Tampa Bay Rays until foes start getting eliminated.
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