It's a Race to the Finish!

Ahoy there ladies! T’day be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Ye’d be talkin like a pirate, or be scrubbing the deck inst’ed! 

I won’t write in all Pirate to spare ye. After ESPN stopped talking about the Trent Richardson deal (which took forever!), they finally had coverage with baseball! 

It was a wild night, as bubble teams made their marked in some big time, down-to the wire games. I’ll go over what happened with all of them in a second, but first, here are the wild card standings for both the AL and the NL.

AL

East Leader: Boston Red Sox

West leader: Oakland Athletics

Central Leader: Detroit Tigers

Wild Card:

Tampa Bay Rays: +1

Texas Rangers: -

Cleveland Indians: .5 GB

Baltimore Orioles: 1 GB

NY Yankees: 2.5 GB

Kansas City Royals: 2.5 GB

LA Angels: 8.5 GB

NL

East Leader: Atlanta Braves

West Leader: Los Angeles Dodgers

Central Leader: St. Louis Cardinals

Wild Card:

Pittsburgh Pirates: +.5 GB

Cincinnati Reds: -

Washington Nationals: 5.5 GB

Arizona Diamondbacks: 9 GB

As you can see, the NL Wild Card race is pretty set. The Washington Nationals have gone 8-2 in their last ten to move as a contender, but unfortunately for them, the Cincinnati Reds have also won three in a row. The Pirates will not choke, even if they have lost three in a row. They are right now two games back from the Cardinals, and the Reds 2.5 GB, and I think that the Reds will actually take the second spot while the Pirates gain that second wild card spot to make it third place in the division.

According to ESPN.com, the Pirates, Cardinals, and Reds all have a 99% chance of making the playoffs in one way or another, so I think everything will be ok. 

The AL is a much different story, though, and a better one to watch. Tampa Bay and Texas are in an amazing series that seemed to be anyone’s game, including last night, when the Rangers just needed one strike to win (ring a bell at all?), but blew it in the 11^th and 12^th to lose the game. It’ll be one of the best pitching duels of the season tonight, as Yu Darvish takes on Matt Moore in what should be a classic. 

Moving over to the next team in line, the Cleveland Indians. Cleveland just finished a series with another bubble team, the Kansas City Royals. All they have to do is win tonight’s game to have a spot in the wild card (for at least a day), giving them a much better possibility of getting into the playoffs. Last night, the Royals made their statement as they pounded the Tribe, 7-2. Kansas City gets the day off tonight, but then have a home stand against Texas before going on the road to face Seattle and Chicago (AL). If they can win the series against Texas this weekend, oh man the wild card standings are going to change big time. I see them having little problem with four games against the White Sox, too. 

 

The Indians have an even better schedule at the end. They have a four game series with the Houston Astros, then two against the White Sox, then they finish on the road against the Minnesota Twins. Earlier in August, I had the Indians out of the playoffs. But with the situation now, they have a strong change of making it.

I don’t know how the Yankees are still in contention. After being swept by Boston, they are still only two and a half games out of the wild card. They have to play the Giants, the Rays, and the Astros to finish up their year. While that schedule isn’t too challenging, the series with the Rays will be a tight one. 

Finally, the Baltimore Orioles are just one game out of contention, and can tie with a win and a Texas Ranger AND Cleveland Indian loss. They have the toughest path to the playoffs, but they have been hot. They can complete a sweep against Boston tonight, but then they go on a four game road trip against Tampa Bay. They also still have to play Boston one more time.

So with the schedules of all of the teams and the way some teams have been playing, here is my fixed list of what should be the wild card standings come October. Note: All of the teams that are winning their division right now will win the division in my opinion, even the Cardinals.

NL:

Reds

Pirates

Nationals: 5 GB

D-Backs: 9 GB

AL:

Rays

Indians

Rangers: 1 GB

Orioles: 1 GB

Royals: 2 GB

Yankees: 3.5 GB

Surprised? I know I said that the Rangers will probably get in anyways, but they looked like crap last night, and the Indians have such an easy schedule for the end of the year. It’ll be such a tight race.

There is possibility of a six way tie between all of these teams still, but it’s unlikely to happen. I would love to see that, though.

Questions? Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com.

-Evan Boyd