Baseball playoff update 9-26

I see I was linked on Duvafiles, the post in question is here.

This will be quick since it’s past 12:30 a.m.

American League:

And then there were five as Chicago bit the dust bigtime tonight, 14-1. If Oakland manages to come back after blowing a 9-3 lead in Seattle, the four AL playoff teams will be set and they’re jockeying for position from here on out. The order would be like this:

1. New York (94-62, won A.L. East). They hold the tiebreaker over Detroit because they won the season series. Tomorrow the Yankees host Baltimore, Hayden Penn (0-3, 15.43) for Baltimore against the Yankees’ Cory Lidle (11-10, 4,86 between the Phillies and Yankees).

2. DETROIT (94-62, leads A.L. Central by 1 game over Minnesota). The Tigers face Toronto, it’s Dustin McGowan (1-1, 8.34) for the Jays against the Tigers’ Jeremy Bonderman (13-8, 4.11).

3. Oakland (91-65 if they win in Seattle, won A.L. West). Oakland continues the series in Seattle, Rich Harden (3-0, 3.79) takes on Jake Woods (6-3, 3.88).

4. Minnesota (93-63, clinched at least a wild card tonight). They continue to feast on Kansas City, the Royals send out Odalis Perez (6-8, 6.06) to tangle with Minnesota’s Johan Santana (18-6, 2.79).

Just in case Seattle takes it and keeps the Angels (85-71) alive in the A.L. West, it’s Texas and Robinson Tejada (4-4, 4.50) against Los Angeles’s Kelvim Escobar (11-13, 3.40).

National League:

1. New York (93-63) is set as N.L. East champs and best record.

2. San Diego (84-75, leads N.L. West by 2 games over Los Angeles). They beat St. Louis tonight and send ex-Cardinal Woody Williams (10-5, 3.53) out to pitch against Chris Carpenter (15-7, 2.93) on Tuesday.

3. St. Louis (80-75, leads N.L. Central by 2 1/2 games over Houston). See San Diego above.

4 (tie). Philadelphia (82-74). They were knocked off by the Astros, now they move on to Washington, a team who won 3 of 4 from the Mets. It’s Brett Myers (12-6, 3.94) vs. the Nats’ Ramon Ortiz (10-15, 5.40).

4. (tie) Los Angeles (82-74). The Dodgers open up a set in Colorado, sending Greg Maddux (13-14, 4.25) out to square off with Jason Jennings (9-12, 3.65).

6. Houston (78-78). Don’t look now, but the Astros are knocking on the NL Central door. They’re now off to Pittsburgh, where they reestablish order in their rotation by sending out Andy Pettitte (13-13, 4.31) against the Pirates’ Ian Snell (14-10, 4.67).

7. Cincinnati (77-79). The Reds begin an elimination matchup with Florida tonight, first-game loser is out of the wildcard and winner has to sweep all three to stay in it. It will be Matt Belisle (2-0, 4.45) for Cincinnati against the D-Train, Dontrelle Willis (12-11, 3.77) for Florida.

8. Florida (76-80). See Cincinnati above.

I could lose one or possibly two teams tomorrow, so the list is starting to grow shorter. With the Cardinals swooning, it puts the Astros and Reds in better shape for the division title than the wild-card.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.