Playoff races come down to the wire
September 27th, 2005With five or six games left in the baseball season, a handful of races are still anybody’s guess. Technically the Braves and Angels haven’t clinched yet, but it’s just a matter of time. Here are my predictions for the races still undecided. Feel free to add your own predictions.
National League West
San Diego has a three-game lead over the surging San Francisco Giants. Both teams stink and are undeserving of a division title. I say the Padres hang on to win.
National League Wild Card
Houston has a 1.5-game lead over Philadelphia. As much as I hate it, because Houston’s pitching scares me in the playoffs, the Astros will win this race. This one’s really a no-brainer as the Astros have a serious advantage in their schedule — of their remaining six games, four of them are against the Cubs.
American League East
This one’s going to be a dandy. The Yankees have a half-game lead over Boston, and the two teams finish out the season with a three-game series at Fenway this weekend. My pick: the Yankees.
American League Central
The collapse of the Chicago White Sox is almost complete. After holding a 15-game lead, it’s now down to two games over Cleveland. The two teams play a three-game series to close out the season, and I think the Indians will overtake them.
American League Wild Card
Another close one, with the division races having big-time ramifications on the wild card race. Boston, New York, Chicago and Cleveland are all candidates. But since I’ve already predicted New York and Cleveland to win their divisions, that leaves the Sox — Red vs. White. I’ll go with the White Sox.
Go ahead, put the dang Yanks atop the AL East. We Red Sox fans welcome the scoffing at the chances of the Olde Towne Team. Just wait, come Monday (or Tuesday if there’s a playoff), the AL East champs will have Boston across their chests! (Of the road uniforms, I mean. The home ones say Red Sox.) (This is getting complicated.)
Bonds hit another homer tonight… you know, I hope that the winner of the west is under .500 b/c that has never been done before, and I hope it is SF for two reasons: 1. the padres kicked our Cardinal butts at Busch earlier this season 2. if we did somehow choke and lose to the padres, oh my, that would be bad, real bad. 3. wouldn’t it be great to knock bonds out of the playoffs one more time?
My Braves have now clinched for the 14th straight time!!! Just thought you might like to know who the Cardinal’s opponent is in the NLCS Tim! May the best team reach the World Series! Regardless, I will be rooting for the National Leauge Team in the WS, even if it turns out to be the Cardinals, God forbid….