sportsblog

Obviously, the Ryder Cup was only part of the excellent weekend we had in sports this past weekend. The pennant race in baseball is nearing its end and there are some races that have been decided already, but the ones that haven’t been decided yet are really interesting.

In the AL, the East division race has come down to the Rays and the Red Sox with the loser most certainly going to win the Wild Card (at this point the Red Sox just need to win a game to clinch that scenario). The Rays kept themselves in the driver’s seat this weekend taking two of three from the Twins and then winning last night at Baltimore. They now have a two and a half game lead in the last week of the season and are tightly in control and they should certainly be able to hold on to the lead. Look for them to win their first division title and for the Red Sox to easily hold on the Wild Card.

In the AL Central (the only other race in doubt) the White Sox hold a two and half game lead over the Twins for the division title. The two teams play a three game series starting tonight. The Twins essentially need a sweep to win the division. Their young pitchers have been great all year long, but are looking a little worn down and the Sox are certainly the team to beat. I can’t see them getting swept or missing the playoffs. This really has been the surprise of the season for me. The White Sox are really a third place team, but they have really bound together and played much better as a team than the Indians or Tigers who were expected to be the challengers for the division title (and really the World Series). But the White Sox have made this their division and they and the Cubs will be in the playoffs at the same time for the first time in over 100 years.

Over in the NL, a lot less is clear. The Dodgers lead the NL West by two games over the Diamondbacks with 6 games to play for both teams. The Dodgers are hot and should hang on here, especially since they play the Padres and the Giants in their last two series while the Diamondbacks have to play in St. Louis and then at home vs. the Rockies. The Diamondbacks do have some serious pitching and have gotten hot lately as well, but it looks to be too little too late after their ten game swoon earlier this month.

The Central has been decided (as has the best record in the NL) as the Cubs really ran away over the last month of the season. The Brewers are still alive (as are the Astros, but they are on life support) for the Wild Card. The Wild Card race is closely linked to the NL East race as the Phillies currently sit atop the NL East by two and half games in front of the Mets and the Mets lead the Wild Card by a game over the Brewers. The Brewers and Mets have both been slipping of late and it seems to be the team who shoots themselves in the foot least will win the Wild Card, but both have serious pitching (or at least in the case of the Mets, one serious pitcher) and can make a run to clase the season. The Mets have three more games against the Cubs and then finish with the Marlins. The Brewers have three against the Pirates and then finish with three at home against the Cubs. The Phillies have two more games against the Braves and then three final home games against the Nationals.

Given the scheduling, I think the Phillies should hold on (although Lord knows how nervous I am about it) to win the NL East and I think the Mets will find a way to hold off the Brewers. One of the major reasons I think that the Phils will hold on in the East is because the Brewers are so close in the Wild Card. Obviously, the Phillies have to win down the stretch to close it out, but the Mets have as much pressure on them as (if not more than) the Phillies given that the Brewers are tracking them down (after the Phillies already had last week). This race should be pretty exciting this week and oh man do I hope the Phillies put this race away this week and go into the playoffs with some momentum.