September Preview
By
September Preview
By
Baseball's now in it's September form as teams have expanded their rosters, and begin battling for the Pennant.
In the
AL East, the Yankees have pretty much wrapped up their division with an 8
game lead over the tumbling, injury-struck Red Sox. Their magic number is now
down to 21 (as of September 1st and 11 PM,) and they show no sign of letting up.
The Red Sox have a tough task, 5 and a half games out of the Wild Card, and it
looks like they'll need a HUGE turn-around in September to even make the
playoffs.
The AL Central is a different story, however.
The Tigers have a 5.5 game lead on the White Sox, and a 6 game lead over the
Twins. This division won't be decided until the end of September. The Tigers hav
e
struggled a lot recently to allow both Chicago and Minnesota to have a shot at
the division, but in the past week, the Sox and Twins both haven't played well
enough to come back and take the division. The White Sox currently lead the Wild
Card by half a game over the Twins and 5.5 over the Red Sox.
In the West, Oakland has an 8 game lead over the Angels, but neither team would make the playoffs if it was just the top four teams in a league. The Angels are 8.5 behind Chicago in the Wild Card.
If the season ended today, the seedings in
the AL would look like this: 1. Detroit 2. New York 3. Los Angles 4. Ch
icago.
In the NL East, the Mets have dominated their division like never before. They have a 16 game lead, and their magic number is down to 14.
The Phillies and Marlins are both right in the middle of the Wild Card hunt with the Phillies a game behind San Diego, and the Marlins back by 2 1/2.
In the NL Central, the Cardinals are up by 5
1/2, and look to have their division sealed. Cincinnati's 2nd, and they are 1.5
games out of the Wild
card.
They'll need a strong performance however to pass San Diego and Philly. Houston
is 3 games back of San Diego in the Wild Card.
Finally, in the worst division in baseball,
The Dodgers lead by just three games over the Wild Card leading Padres. The
Padres lead the Wild Card by a game over Philly, 1.5 over Houston, 2.5 over
Florida, 3 over San Fransisco and Houston, 4 over Arizona, and 6 over Colorodo.
If the Season ended today, the NL Seedings would look like this: 1. Mets, 2. St.
Louis, 3. Los Angeles, and 4. San Diego.
It'll be interesting to see how things wind out in this last
month of baseball, the only close battles are in the AL Central, and the NL Wild
Card, and both of those won't be decided until the very end. Whether the
division's been close or a blow out, this has been another fantastic season for
Major League Baseball, and many of us are anxious for the Playoffs to start.
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