Posted on 09/17/2013 3:24:30 PM PDT by campaignPete R-CT
THE WILD SIDE: It's a scramble for the two AL wild-card spots, with a half-dozen teams trying to claim them. Texas, Cleveland and Tampa Bay are at the top, but wobbling.
Pinch-hitter Justin Morneau's single sent Pittsburgh over the Cubs 3-2 Sunday, leaving the Pirates even with St. Louis for the NL Central lead.
WHAT'S THE FORECAST?: Wicked weather always seems to wreak havoc at the end of the season. Cleveland waited out a rain delay of nearly 4 1/2 hours in Chicago before beating the White Sox 7-1 Sunday night. Just watch - somewhere, a storm will sweep into another stadium at the most inopportune time.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
The second wildcard was genius, nobody wants to bet the farm on a one game playoff, it makes teams push for the division title. No more sitting back and resting your guys. This year is fun, a real pennant chase and many more games in September mean something now.
The second wild card, instead of “watering down” baseball, actually does the opposite: It increases the importance of winning the division. The one-game play-in game is much riskier.
Beware the "infield" fly rule!
For cups and bottles shall fall the sky and a vicious noise shall arise from the multitudes.
with the expanded rosters it takes some time to make sense of the box scores with so many relief pitchers in and out. Many are unfamiliar names.
Francona is using them all.
Rays’ Hellickson got pulled tonite after 40 pitches with the bases empty.
Bump for a Tribe Wildcard!
NL Tiebreaker grid
.......... ATL ...... STL ....... PITT ..... LAD
it is perfectly hierarchical:
ATL over LAD over PITT over STL
ATL has 2-way tie over all 3, STL over none.
So it is STL @ PITT on Monday the 30th!
I am ignoring CINN and 3-way ties are similar.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings/grid
The gnats are dead Jim. Down to 4.5 back, but it’s not happening. The Flubbies finish the year with Pittsburgh and St. Louis.
The Indians will take the final 2 games against White Sox. Why it’s a 2 game series I do not know, make up of rainouts maybe. They also have 4 against Houston and 4 against MN. You couldn’t ask for a better path to win, they have the inside track.
White Sox beat MN the past 2 games (4 wins in September!), MN has a better record but a worse run differential than the White Sox.
W Sox finish with 4 against the Royals, who they swept last month in KC. The Royals have an opportunity to put 4 in their win column to close the season, they’ll need to and they’ll need to beat Cleveland today.
AL: BOS, DET, OAK, TEX, TAM or CLE. I still think TAM makes it; CLE could push TEX out (and adios to Ron Washington).
NL: ATL, CIN, STL, PIT, LAD. Washington’s push is too little, too late. Too bad, I like Davey Johnson from the Mets days.
impy, there should be no further discussion on this thread of the disgraced Cubbies and ChiSox, unless it relates to their opponents.
what I find annoying is the following: SF goes with Cain and Bumgarner tonite and THUR vs MEts and then they miss Yankees series this weekend. They cannot shuffle their rotation and use the minor league call-ups vs the Mets?
At least the Cubs have Wood skipping MIL and going vs ATL and STL. Are the Cubs usinga 6-man rotation?
I hope the ChiSox don’t waste Quintana or Danks in that absurd make-up game vs Toronto next Tues. You will have to monitor them to see if they fly all 35 guys into Chicago for 1-game, only to fly them off to Cleveland in the middle of the night. Same for Toronto.
Hey Cubs, no thanks for that fatso Garza.
Wasn’t I talking about their opponents? What else is there to say about them?
Anyway, yes the Cubs are using 6, I didn’t even notice. Rusin, Arrieta, Wood, Baker, Jackson, Samardzija
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130910/sports/709109538/
GOP-Ma,
impy sounds like he is gettin’ defensive about those lousy Chicago teams. Perhaps he should be an A’s fan for the duration so that he can participate in the postseason.
bfl
Sure Mauro.
OTOH, not “having a dog in the fight” can be much less stressful and more fun overall.
Astros are finally making a contribution.
they are into the 13th vs. CINN
and will be in the middle of the AL wildcard race every day from here on out. Perhaps
could be the team for CHICAGO to adopt this month.
What's going on, Pete? Or is it Mauro? Who are you? What have you done with Pete, Mauro? I demand you show me proof that Pete is still alive before I tell you what team or teams I would favor in the playoffs. A picture of him holding today's newspaper will do.
I think you need to watch the new Miley Cyrus musical porn video 20 times and then get back to me. Careful, it can give you herpes, herpes of the mind.
OTOH, not “having a dog in the fight” can be much less stressful and more fun overall.
True, true. I sure had fun last year rooting against the Tigers though.
this is Mauro. Pete is researching the Chicago connection to the Kennedy assassination.
we’re just razzing ya.
But Pete really don’t want Quintana pitching against Toronto and figure only about 22 guys need to fly in there for the game.
Mauro,
I know who you are, and that pic ain’t it.
Mauro Gomez is who you be.
baseballmauro-ct
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