The two closest races as baseball approaches just three more weekends before playoffs are now the American League Central and the National League Wild Card.
The remaining tension in the American league is more intriguing than what appears on the surface. The Tigers lead Minnesota by four games having gone 3-7 in their last ten games while Minnesota went 6-4. Detroit pitching has struggled recently having been the team’s strength all year. Minnesota is finally healthy. What makes this situation especially powerful is Detroit visits Minnesota this weekend and then hosts them four games in the next to last series. Lurking in the background six games back is Chicago who Detroit also visits then hosts. The White Sox also figure in Twins’ plans playing in Chicago early next week. The balance of Detroit’s games are against Cleveland while Minnesota faces Kansas City two teams with significantly losing records.
The San Francisco Giants trail the Colorado Rockies by 3 ½ games, three losses.
Colorado visits Arizona, hosts San Diego, San Diego, and Milwaukee, before finishing in Los Angeles. San Francisco visits Los Angeles and Arizona, hosts the cubs and the Diamond backs, and then finishes at San Diego. The Giants would appear to have the slight edge in the schedule. The Dodgers, meanwhile, sit atop both teams with a five game lead and is once again playing stronger ball having a 7-3 record in their last ten games. The Dodgers would need to completely collapse to open up the race at the top.
The only other race is for home field advantage which the Yankees clearly lead in the American league. The National League situation is more interesting. The Dodgers lead the Phillies by one game in the loss column and St. Louis by three games. While Philadelphia and St. Louis have their divisions close to clinched, the respective records of the first place teams are as follows: Philadelphia, 84-60; St. Louis, 85-62; Los Angeles, 88-59.
For the American league, the playoff hosts are set. Boston will visit Anaheim. Will the Tigers or another team from their division go to New York? No hosts can be determined in the National League yet and this could be up in the air until close to the end.
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