The most compelling playoff race in baseball is a chore for a fan to decide upon, but one thing is for certain: it's in the American League. Four of the five spots in the NL are already locked up, with the Cardinals holding a three game lead with six to play over the Dodgers for the second wild card position. Blowing a three game lead in six days would be extremely difficult. However, in the American League, things are interesting. Not one team has clinched a playoff spot with a less than a week left in the season. The Rangers have a four game lead in the AL West on the A's, and appear to be locks. Aside from that though, the American League is wide open. The Tigers have opened up a two game lead on the skidding White Sox in the AL Central, and I don't think they're going to let go. The Yankees still lead the AL East over the Orioles, but their lead is down to just one game. In the wild card race, the Orioles are leading the charge, a game up on the A's for the first spot. But both the Angels and Rays are just two back of Oakland for that second spot. Eight American League teams have a shot at the playoffs with six games left. Only five will make it. If the A's or Angels are going to win a wild card slot, they're going to have to fight to do it, with three games each remaining against the Rangers. As for the Orioles and Rays, they can decide on who will get in amongst themselves. Each team has three left with the Sox (Baltimore drawing the Red, and Tampa Bay the White), and the season will conclude in Tampa with a battle to the death (or elimination, either or really) between the Orioles and Rays. Isn't baseball a beautiful, beautiful game?
Game of the Day: Tigers 5, Royals 4. This win was an absolute nightmare for the White Sox to see in the afternoon before their game. Detroit took an early 4-0 lead and Doug Fister was cruising, striking out nine Kansas City batters in a row at one point. Then in the eighth, he ran into a rough patch, and the Royals clipped the lead to 4-3. Against Joaquin Benoit in the ninth (and *not* embattled closer Jose Valverde), Billy Butler smashed a solo homer to tie the game at four. In the bottom of the ninth, Tim Collins allowed a leadoff double to Prince Fielder before intentionally walking Delmon Young, and getting Fielder out on a sacrifice bunt attempt. Kelvin Herrera relieved him, and an error on Mike Moustakas loaded the bases for Alex Avila. Brayan Pena made a diving stop of an Avila grounder and got the out at first, but couldn't get the out at home, giving the Tigers a nice victory and some breathing room in the AL Central.
Pitching Lines of the Night: Wily Peralta did his best to keep the Brewers' playoff hopes alive, allowing just two hits in 5 1/3 scoreless innings, walking one and striking out six…but Cincinnati won 2-1 on a walkoff triple by Dioner Navarro. Mat Latos was just as good for the Reds, allowing one run on three hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out three. Brandon Morrow dominated the Yankees in a 6-0 Blue Jays win, throwing seven shutout frames while allowing just four hits, walking three and striking out three. Finally, the final line for the Doug Fister peformance in Detroit: 7 2/3 innings, five hits, three runs (two earned), ten strikeouts, and no walks. Nice.
Hitting Lines of the Night: Michael Morse powered the Nationals to a 7-3 win in Philly, going 2/4 with two homers and four RBI. In the Athletics' 9-7 loss in Texas, Josh Reddick went 2/4 with a pair of solo homers for the A's. The Cubs fell 7-5 to the Rockies despite Anthony Rizzo's solid performance: 3/3 with two RBI, two walks, and a homer. For the Rockies, Jordan Pacheco went 2/4 with two runs, three RBI, and his fifth homer of the year. Giants backup catcher Hector Sanchez had a solid game in San Francisco's 7-3 win over Arizona, going 2/4 with two runs, two RBI, a double, and his third homer of the year. Another catcher, John Jaso, led the Mariners to a 9-4 win in Anaheim, going 2/5 with a double, a homer, and three RBI.
Other Games: The Braves completed a sweep of the Marlins, winning 6-2. The Mets edged the Pirates 6-5 with RA Dickey earning his 20th win of the year. The Rays won their eighth straight, beating the White Sox 3-2. The Dodgers kept their slim playoff hopes alive after beating the Padres 8-4.
Today's Games: I'm only going to start mentioning the games with playoff implications over the last week of the year in this spot instead of mentioning interesting ptichers too. Chris Tillman starts for the Orioles against Aaron Cook of the Red Sox, while Hiroki Kuroda starts for the Yankees in Toronto and Jeremy Hellickson starts for the Rays against Gavin Floyd in Chicago. Drew Smyly makes a spot start for the injured Max Scherzer in Minnesota for the Tigers. Out in the AL West, Blake Beavan takes on AJ Griffin in Oakland, while Jered Weaver and Ryan Dempster do battle in Texas. In the National League, the Cardinals will send Adam Wainwright to the hill to take on Edwin Jackson of the Nationals, while the Braves start Tim Hudson against the Mets, and the Dodgers (perhaps foolishly) will let injured ace Clayton Kershaw take on the Rockies.
Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.
