The Actual Standings Thread 2006

[Elster88]

My guess is that the standings thread we already have is going to get flooded with pictures as the magic number winds down. And that's a beautiful thing. But it means actual talk will get buried quickly. So I'll start this for general comments and pictures of the actual standings.

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Three way tie with a record of 58-56 out west:

San Diego
Los Angeles
Arizona

[Guest Edgy DC]

Thanks to the Mets.

[Guest sharpie]

That's wrong. The Dodgers are up by half a game after last night's win.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Here's what I posted in the original thread this morning.

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Meanwhile, the three-game sweep has knocked the Padres out of first place. They're in second, tied with Arizona, a half game behind the Dodgers. We should pay a little attention to the wild card standings, since it will determine the Mets first round opponent. (If the wild card comes out of the NL East, the Mets will probably play the NL West winner, otherwise the postseason will likely kick off against the wild card winner.) I think I'd like to see San Diego win the West, and Cincinnati win the card. W L GB Left Cincinnati 59 56 -- 47 Arizona 58 56 0.5 48 San Diego 58 56 0.5 48 Houston 56 58 2.5 48 Philadelphia 55 58 3.0 49 Colorado 55 59 3.5 48 San Francisco 54 60 4.5 48 Milwaukee 54 60 4.5 48

[Elster88]

]That's wrong. The Dodgers are up by half a game after last night's win.

Whatever.

But that's exactly the purpose of this thread.

[Elster88]

Detroit is on pace to win 108 games this year.

[TransMonk]

Where the heck did Houston come from? I hadn't heard boo from them for months...yet there they are 2.5 out. That's the one team on that WC list I would least like to face in a 5 game series.

What I like about the Mets remaining schedule is that it mostly NL East competition, but we still have games left with Houston, St. Louis and the Dodgers. Hopefully that will provide a small tune up for October.

[Elster88]

They didn't really come from anywhere, IMO. More like Cincinnati came back to them and no one else moved forward. The National League is a whole bunch of .500 teams. Even St. Louis is basically a .500 team right now.

[Frayed Knot]

When adding to this thread, do we have to be actually standing?

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

No. But if you're inebriated, the States of the Union thread in the NBF could use you

[Elster88]

61-57 leads your NL wildcard.

'Course, it's hard to turn your nose up that sneaks into the playoffs with a weak record when you're a Met fan.

[stevejrogers]

By virtue of the Mets beating the Rockies last night, and MFY beating the Tigers this afternoon, the Mets are the best team, percentage wise, in MLB!

Mets 81-49 .623
Tigers 82-50 .621

Also, and this was a mere formality at this point, the Mets go back-to-back .500 or greater seasons since 2000-2001 (course that was the back end of a 5 year run)

Course it means squat in the grand scheme of things as the AL will have home field (though due to the 1994 strike upseting the odd-even year run, the AL would have been home field anyway) and in recent years it hasn't proved to be the eventual World Champs

But for this moment, the Mets have the best record in all of baseball

[Centerfield]

Mets increase their lead over the Tigers as they fall today to the MFY's 6-4.

In other news, how would you like to be the Marlins, go 9-1 and not game a single game in the division standings. I realize they're not looking towards the division anyway, but that's gotta be just a little frustrating.

[stevejrogers]

At the final Milestone Marker of the Regular Season (Labor Day Weekend) This is how the races look

NL East
Should be wrapped up shortly by the Mets
The Marlins are now back at .500 and are a half game in back of the Phillies

NL Central
Cardinals at 73-62 are starting to put some distance against the sputtering Reds. The lead is now 6 games, and Magic Number is 21. Astros pick up a game and are a game behind the Reds

NL West
Still a race, and even the Giants have a pulse! Padres are 3 games behind the 73-63 Dodgers, Giants are 5 and a half out

NL Wild Card
Believe it or not, EVERYONE is still mathmatically in the race! Well the Pirates number is 10 and they are 16.5 games out. Padres at 70-66 lead by a Game and a half over the Phillies. Marlins are 2 back, Reds and Giants 2 and a half. Astros 3.5, Braves 5, D-Backs 6 and Rockies 7

Considering the records of all involved, anyone who calls it a great race (I'm looking at you Baseball Tonight) should be banged with a mallet!

AL East
Yankees at 81-54 are pulling away now with a 9 game lead and Magic Number at 18. Be the first time since 1956, 50 years, that two New York teams finished in first in their respective regular season races.

AL Central
Tigers, 84-52 as of this moment, are leading the Central by 5 over the White Sox and Twins by 5.5 Their sputtering and the Sox and Twins Wild Card race actually slowed their Magic Number push! Its standing at 22

AL West
The A's at 79-57 are holding firm to their 8 game lead over the Angels. Interestingly enough, even THEY have a lower Magic Number than the Tigers, 19! That makes it 4 Divisions that could be clinched before the Tigers clinch.

AL Wild Card
Now we are talking classic style pennant race! 79-57 White Sox are CLINGING to a half game lead over the 78-57 Twins. Both teams though are starting to pull away from the rest of the pack as the Red Sox are 6 and a half back, Angels 8 back and Blue Jays are 8 and a half back.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Padres won last night against Colorado. They now have a two-game wild card lead over the Phillies. Florida's three out, Red and Giants three and a half.

[Elster88]

*cough*

[TransMonk]

Baltimore joined Tampa and KC as teams officially eliminated from the playoffs today.

The Chicago Cubs are on the clock.

[stevejrogers]

Should be noted that after most of the summer blitzing the rest of the league, the Tigers have been surpassed by the Yankees for best record in the AL, by the Mets for best record overall, and only the Dodgers have a higher magic number to clinch their respective division!

BTW, Miami is getting hit for not showing up despite being in the thick of the Wild Card hunt, well, part of that has to do with their 72-71 record! Much like the Mets of recent vintage, you really want to put all your faith in a middle of the pack team, in the midst of a scrum for best of also rans. Or a race to see who will be picked off in the first round

The AL Wild Card, as stated eariler is a much more compelling race, partly because the AL Central is also in play in the same race, and the records of all involved are not hovering around .500

[Guest Edgy DC]

Part of it has to do with the management having already announced that they're bailing, and any fan investment would seemingly just serve to increase the value of the asset before it's sold off to further enrich said management.

A large part, in fact.

[Frayed Knot]

Another quirky "race" to watch is the one where Los Mets are 33 games above .500 and the remainder of the over-.500 NL teams are [u:cc9fcb8916]a cumulative 27[/u:cc9fcb8916] games over.

It'll be tough for them to keep their heads above that theoretical waterline, but it's something that's only happened twice in the (post-'61) expansion era according to the geeks at Baseball Prospectus.

[stevejrogers]

With just two weeks left here is how we are shaping down the stretch

AL East
Yankees 89-56 with a Magic Number of 6 could clinch this weekend with three wins in the 4 game series. Its doable, but most likely clinching will be done early this week. Blue Jays have a Tragic Number of 4

AL Central
Its now down to a three team race
Tigers 88-59
Twins 86-61 2.0 (Tragic Number 14)
White Sox 84-63 4.0 (Tragic Number 12)
Tigers play Baltimore at home, then at Chicago, at Baltimore (one game make up) and at Kansas City before finishing up at home against the Blue Jays and Royals

Twins are in Cleveland now, then go to Boston and Baltimore before finishing at home against the Royals and White Sox

and the defending champs have this current series in Oakland, at home against the Tigers, and Mariners before going on the road to Cleveland and Minnesota. Talk about a great EOY series, White Sox and Twins, both the Wild Card AND Division could be on the line!

AL West
Oakland at 84-62 has yet to eliminate anyone from divisional competition!
The Angels are still hanging on at 80-68 with a number of 11, the Rangers are at 5 and Mariners are at 2
A's welcome the Indians after their series against the White Sox, then the Angels come hoping they have a surge in them next weekend, and finally the A's go on the road to Seattle and finish the season in Los Angeles of Anaheim, California.

The Angels have the Rangers, KC and Oakland left on the road and wrap up at home against the Rangers and A's

AL Wild Card
Texas' tragic number is 3, Blue Jays at 7, the Angels and Red Sox at 9 (Sox and 6.5 back, Angels are 7.5 back) and the White Sox are two games behind the Twins, who's magic number is at 14

NL East
Mets at 90-56 have a magic number of 1 to clinch. Next win or Phillie loss wraps up the NL East

NL Central
Cardinals at 78-68 hold a 5.5 game lead over the Reds, 7 games over the Astros. Magic number stands at 5 over the Brewers, 10 over the Astros and 11 over the Reds
Rest of the year looks like this: Cards wrap up the series against the Giants, then go on the road to Milwaukee and Houston before ending the New Busch's first regular season against Padres and Brewers

Reds play in Chicago, and Houston, come home against the Cubs and finish on the road against the Marlins and Pirates

Astros play the Phillies, Reds and Cardinals at home before going on the road to Philly, Pittsburgh and Atlanta

NL West
The West leading Dodgers (78-69) also have yet to eliminate anyone from divisional competition! Rockies are at 6, D'Backs at 8, Giants (74-73) are 4 games back and are at 12, and the Padres at 76-70, 1.5 games back have a tragic number of 15
Dodgers have the series against the Padres, then the Pirates and Diamondbacks come to town. Then they go on the road to face Colorado and wrap up in San Francisco

Padres finish up in LA, then home against Arizona and Pittsburgh, then at St Louis and Arizona

Giants have the current series in St Louis, then at Colorado and Arizona, and wrap up at home against Arizona and LA

NL Wild Card
Nationals have a tragic number of 3, Brewers at 7, Rockies at 8, Braves and D'Backs at 10, Houston (5 games back) at 12, Reds (3.5) at 12, Giants (2.5) and Marlins (2.5) at 14 and the Padres hold a 1.5 game lead over the Phillies with a magic number of 15
Phillies have their series against the Astros to wrap up, then at home against the Cubs, Marlins and Astros. Then its on the road at Washington and Miami

Marlins finish with their series in Atlanta then come to Shea and Phillie before finishing at home against the Reds and Phils