AL Wild Card Race

     This years wild card race doesn't look like it's going to be as good as it was last year, the NL wild card teams, wit the exception of the NL Central, appear to be set. The AL race appears to have some life though.

Division Races
This year is the first year in a while where every division leader, if they lost their lead would be in a wild card spot. Don't underestimate the value of winning your division though, Atlanta learnt that the hard way.

AL East: With just one game separating Boston from Tampa Bay, this race could be the most exciting in the AL. Despite their one game lead though Boston may be a bit of a long shot: Tampa Bay has played four fewer games. Both teams are going to have a tough series ahead of them against red hot teams. Boston is visiting the Dodgers who... you know, while Tampa Bay is hosting a no longer injured Yankees team that has won 11 of their last 14 games. Both Baltimore and New York are long-shots for receiving a first round bye at 5.5 and 6 games back.

AL Central: Cleveland at 5 games behind isn't out of this division, but they're a long shot to win the central. They do have 3 games left against the Tigers though, so you never know. It will take great baseball though, and a 3-game sweep in their Tigers series.

AL West: Oakland has made a habit of losing the game 5 in the division series, they're 0-5. It would say that there is a good chance that that would carry over into the wild card game. They might have a bit of motivation to get the 2.5 games they're behind Texas back. The A's can do it though, just look at last year.

Wild Card: There are two pivotal weekend series going on: Baltimore vs. Texas and New York vs. Tampa Bay. For Oakland and Tampa Bay they can knock two teams that appear as if they could be threats, or make them even more threatening. For New York and Baltimore their seasons are on the line. Along with Cleveland those teams could be more dangerous than ever or they could be forced to forget their postseason dreams.

MLB Dream Team

What if Cy Young could pitch against Justin Verlander? What if we could see Cano play against Hornsby? Here I pick one player at every position for a team featuring active players and non-active players.

Active Players:

SP: Justin Verlander

CP: Mariano Rivera

C: Yadier Molina

1B: Joey Votto

2B: Robinson Cano

3B: Miguel Cabrera

SS: Derek Jeter

OF: Mike Trout

OF: Bryce Harper

OF: Andrew McCutchen

DH: David Ortiz

Breakdown:

7 AL, 4 NL

3 New York Yankees, 2 Detroit Tigers, 1 St. Louis, 1 Cincinnati, 1 Los Angeles Angels, 1 Washington Nationals, 1 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1 Boston Red Sox

Non-Active Players:

SP: Cy Young

CP: Dennis Eckersley

C: Yogi Berra

1B: Lou Gehrig

2B: Rogers Hornsby

3B: Mike Schmidt

SS: Honus Wagner

OF: Babe Ruth

OF: Ted Williams

OF: Hank Aaron

DH: Paul Molitor

Breakdown:

The players are considered to of played for the team that they were a member of during their last MLB appearance, with the league being the league that their team is currently a member of. Since their final team is listed, the team they're associated with may not be listed. An example of this is Yogi Berra who made his final appearance as a Met, not a Yankee.  If the player was a member of a relocated team their modern teams in listed. 

7 NL, 4 AL

Note: If you consider only the team each player was associated with, 7 players were American Leaguers. 

2 Atlanta Braves*, 1 New York Mets, 1 New York Yankees, 1 Baltimore Orioles, 1 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1 Philadelphia Phillies, 1 Boston Red Sox, 1 Milwaukee Brewers, 1 Minnesota Twins, 1 St. Louis Cardinals

*Babe Ruth played his final season with the Boston Braves, the modern day Atlanta Braves.

Will the Yanks Make a Playoff Push

If 2011 was any indication, no team is a lock for the playoffs. There always seems to be a team that stays well back for the longest time, then sneaks up and challenges for a playoff spot that just a bit earlier seemed out of reach. This year, especially with the 2nd AL Wild Card spot, there are a lot of teams that can't quite be counted out yet. But can the Yankees who have battled injuries all year come back from 5 games back this late.

Thanks to their injuries, wins and runs have been tough to get. Despite a line up that should put them closer to 40 wins than 57, the Bronx Bombers find themselves just 5 back of a playoff position. Assuming Jeter comes back soon, the Yankees line up should be able to produce numbers similar to those of last years team that made it to the ALCS. It will be tough, but they have the team to do it. If St. Louis can come back from 9.5 WCGB in late August why can't the Yanks come back from a 5 game deficit in early August?

August 2nd Predictions

Here are my predictions for todays games:

Friday
LA Dodgers at Chicago Cubs
Probables:
LAD: Hyun- Jin Ryu (9-3, 3.14 ERA)
CC: Travis Wood (7-7, 2.79 ERA)
Prediction: LA Dodgers 3, Chicago Cubs 4

Atlanta at Philadelphia
Probables:
ATL: Kris Medlen (7-10, 3.74 ERA)
PHI: Ethan Martin (0-0, -.--)
Prediction: Atlanta 10, Philadelphia 1

Colorado at Pittsburgh
Probables:
COL: Jhoulys Chacin (9-5, 3.54 ERA) 
PIT: Gerrit Cole (5-4, 3.56 ERA)
Prediction: Colorado 2, Pittsburgh 1

Seattle at Baltimore
Probables:
SEA: Aaron Harang (5-9, 4.89 ERA)
BAL: Chris Tillman (13-3, 3.62 ERA)
Prediction: Seattle 5, Baltimore 6

Chicago White Sox at Detroit
Probables:
CWS: Hector Santiago (3-6, 3.33 ERA)
DET: Doug Fister (9-5, 3.67 ERA)
Prediction: Detroit 5, Chicago White Sox 2

Arizona at Boston
Probables:
ARI: Randall Delgado (3-3, 2.85 ERA)
BOS: Jon Lester (10-6, 4.27 ERA)
Prediction: Arizona 1, Boston 0

Cleveland at Miami
Probables:
CLE: Ubaldo Jimenez (8-5, 4.17 ERA)
MIA: Jose Fernandez (7-5, 2.71 ERA)
Prediction: Cleveland 4, Miami 3

Kansas City at New York Mets
Probables:
KC: Wade Davis (5-9, 5.50 ERA)
NYM: Dillon Gee (7-8, 4.13 ERA)
Prediction: Kansas City 0, New York Mets 3

San Francisco at Tampa Bay
Probables:
SF: Madison Bumgarner (10-6, 2.76 ERA)
TB: Chris Archer (6-3, 2.39 ERA)
Prediction: San Francisco 6, Tampa Bay 4

St. Louis at Cincinnati
Probables:
STL: Shelby Miller (10-7, 2.79 ERA)
CIN: Bronson Arroyo (9-8, 3.26 ERA)
Prediction: St. Louis 8, Cincinnati 4

Houston at Minnesota
Probables:
HOU: Jarred Cosart (1-0, 0.86 ERA)
MIN: Samuel Deduno (7-4, 3.18 ERA)
Prediction: Houston 3, Minnesota 2

Washington at Milwaukee
Probables:
WSH: Jordan Zimmerman (12-6, 3.19 ERA)
MIL: Tom Gorzelanny (2-4, 2.83 ERA)
Prediction: Washington 3, Milwaukee 5

Texas at Oakland
Probables:
TEX: Alexi Ogando (4-3, 3.05 ERA)
OAK: Tommy Milone (9-8, 4.10 ERA)
Prediction: Texas 3, Oakland 7

Toronto at LA Angels
Probables:
TOR: Todd Redmond (1-1, 3.81 ERA)
LAA: Tommy Hanson (4-2, 5.15 ERA)
Prediction: Toronto 1, LA Angels 3

New York Yankees at San Diego
Probables:
NYY: CC Sabathia (9-9, 4.64 ERA)
SD: Andrew Cashner (7-5, 3.88 ERA)
Prediction: New York Yankees 6, San Diego 5

Miracle Comeback

     Sorry I haven't done any blogging these last two weeks, I've been on vacation.

     When you have your largest comeback by your team since July 3rd, 1940, you know it was a big comeback. The Red Sox had their largest comeback in the final two innings since that date. How big was it? 3 runs? 4 runs? 5 runs? If you guessed any of those numbers you were wrong, they trailed by six going into the home half of eight. The Sox scored 1 run in the 8th and 6 in the 9th to win 8-7.

Manager John Farrell described it the right way:"In a word, magical."