Thursday, September 27, 2007

Baseball Playoff Picture... Getting Clearer?

Well, I suppose it has cleared up a little from two nights ago. First, in the American League, the Tigers were put out of their misery last night and so we know for sure that New York, Boston, Cleveland and LA will be in the postseason. It looks likely that the Angels will play the Red Sox, while the Yankees and the Indians tangle. But even those matchups are still up in the air!

But it's the National League that continues to provide all of the entertainment these days. With four days left - counting tonight - there are still seven teams in serious contention for those four spots. No division leader currently has more than a 2 game lead, and the Wildcard has three teams all 1 game apart! The Dodgers have been eliminated in the last 48 hours, and Atlanta's on the edge of the cliff (4 games back, with 4 games to go, in both their division and the Wildcard race). But each of those other seven teams (New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, Arizona, San Diego, and Colorado) are either sitting in a playoff spot right now, or within 2 games of one! That's a very nutty situation this late in the season, but it's making for an amazing conclusion to the 162-game campaign! I guess it's comparable to how the NHL season ended in the Spring this year, with so many teams in it right up to the final weekend.

If you're any kind of baseball fan at all, you may want to keep an eye on how things play out over the next 75 hours or so... and possibly beyond (if we go to tie-breakers)! This could be a Finish For The Ages!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My brother forwarded this ESPN article that shows some of the wonkier possibilities for the NL, including a five-way tie that could wind up with four days of tiebreakers before the playoffs even start.