At one point in the MLB season, the New York Yankees were 14 games behind the Boston Red Sox for the AL East title. Now after a couple of months, the Yankees caught fire and now are only 2 1/2 games behind the Sox. The hot streak hit a high when the Yankees played Boston at Fenway park this last weekend and took two out of three from the Sox. At that point, the NY was only 5 1/2 games behind, but the Sox weren't sweating yet. Now, after the Sox have lost 3 games in a row and after losing to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yanks are only 2.5 games back and are making the Sox sweat. If the playoffs started today (Wednesday), the Yankees would play in Los Angels (or Anaheim) and the Sox would play in Boston against the Cleveland Indians. The Sox will pull thru but the real question is if Manny Ramirez can come back and be a force like he was at the beginning of the season after coming back from a strained oblique muscle. If Manny can be Manny after his injury, the Sox will be just fine because their bullpen is the best in baseball (except for Eric Gange).
The AL West and Central are pretty much taken care of with under two weeks left in the season. The Indians are up 7.5 games on the Detroit Tigers and the Angels are up 9 games to Seattle. The really tight one is in the NL Central with the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. In that race, it isn't who wants it but who can actually win games for more than three days. I like the Cubs in that race mostly because Milwaukee is too young and inconsistent.
The New York Mets are dropping games like they are dropping baseballs. The Mets have lost 5 in a row and in the last ten are only 4-6. The Mets in two games, one against the Phillies and one against the Nationals had a combined 10 errors. Philadelphia is only a game and a half behind the Mets and have won 6 games in a row and are 8-2 in the last 10 games. I like the Mets, but if they cannot start winning baseball games, they are going to be done in the playoffs and maybe in the wild card race.
In the NL West, the San Diego Padres are only a game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Padres have won 5 in a row and are 7-3 in the last 10 games to where the Diamondbacks are only 6-4 in the last 10 games. Contradicting the streaks with both these teams, I like the Diamondbacks in that race mostly because of their dominate pitching they have had throughout the season. The Padres will not feel left out in the end either because they are on top of the Wild Card race in the National League. The Yankees are 5 up on the Detroit Tigers and don't look like they are going to slow down.
That is your update on the baseball playoff race with 10-11 games left. The playoffs will be a good one with really talented teams. Here are the matchups if the playoffs started today:
(AL) N.Y. Yankees @ L.A. Angels
(AL) Cleveland Indians @ Boston Red Sox
(NL) Chi Cubs OR Milwaukee Brewers @ Arizona Diamondbacks
(NL) San Diego Padres @ N.Y. Mets
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