Down the Stretch - AL Style

[Frayed Knot]

But the O's hit 7 HRs in a rout of Toronto as the Yanx & Baltimore continue to either both win or both lose on the same day for seemingly the 45th day in a row.
Now, unfortunately, it becomes the Yanx turn to kick the shit out of the Blue Jays (4 game series) before they get ... Minnesota again!!!



Detroit completed a sweep of KC while the ChiSox were losing to the Native Americans which puts the Tigers in 1st place alone for the first time since their late July sweep of Chicago (they quickly fell back) and prior to that it was May 1st.
One could argue that this is the long anticipated surge that most expected at some point from Detroit except that even this 3-game streak makes them only 6-5 over their last 11. Their main weapon lately has been the White Sox losing 7 of 8 (to KC, LAA & Cleveland)

[Frayed Knot]

Tigers blow a 4-0 lead but then score in the bottom of the 9th with the help of [u:1wthh375]the 5th KC error[/u:1wthh375] of the day.
First place alone for them for at least one more day.



Oakland is in Texas and currently down 9-4 in the 4th

[Frayed Knot]

Yanx get shut-out in Toronto
Baltimore gains a half-game by sitting out tonight and so are just 1 game out
But Tampa beats the ChiSox on a 9th inning HR by Evan Longoria so they gain a full game in the East and pull to within 3 games of Baltimore and 4 in back of the Yanx, but just 2 games behind Oakland (who lost to Texas) for WC #2


And the ChiSox are now 2 full games in back of Detroit

[metirish]

ChiSox picked a bad time to go 2-8 in their last 10.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Is there still a theoretical chance that if say the Orioles, A's, and Angels win the rest of their games and the Yankees go 0-for-6 that the Yankees could be on the outs? I'm sure there are other permutations, I just like daydreaming about a new "Greatest Collapse Ever" that involves the Yankees.

[metsmarathon]

eh, the yankees already own the greatest collapse ever.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Well, then they would "Greatest Regular Season Collapse" to their trophy cabinet.

[HahnSolo]

Mets � Willets Point wrote: Is there still a theoretical chance that if say the Orioles, A's, and Angels win the rest of their games and the Yankees go 0-for-6 that the Yankees could be on the outs? I'm sure there are other permutations, I just like daydreaming about a new "Greatest Collapse Ever" that involves the Yankees.

I think their division magic # is 4; their playoff magic # is 3 (or maybe it's 5 and 4). So, while not likely, it is not totally impossible. The biggest hurdle to the collapse is that they are playing their perennial lapdogs Toronto and Minnesota.

[Frayed Knot]

Mets � Willets Point wrote: Is there still a theoretical chance that if say the Orioles, A's, and Angels win the rest of their games and the Yankees go 0-for-6 that the Yankees could be on the outs? I'm sure there are other permutations, I just like daydreaming about a new "Greatest Collapse Ever" that involves the Yankees.

Yes, any or all of those teams (but not the Chi/Det Central loser) can catch or pass the Yanx - including both Tampa & Baltimore even though they finish against each other although at that point you start to get into pretty specific needed outcomes.

Bottom line is that with 6 games left to play for each of the contenders:
the Yanx have 90 wins so obviously that's your minimum benchmark if they lose out
Baltimore right now sits at 89 wins
Oakland = 88
Tampa = 86
LAA = 86

The odds of all that is of course pretty slim, although we just need two of them to happen or, failing that, either Balt or Tampa to catch them which would be enough to throw them into the dreaded play-in game and make them burn Sabathia just to move on, or burn him in a desperate last-ditch effort to win the division and have to play the play-in game with say Ivan Nova on the mound.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Orioles fail to become the first 90 win team with negative run differential in 80 odd years.

[Frayed Knot]

Finally got on the plus side I see.

Friday:
East - Yanx win, O's win, Rays lose
Yanx still with one game lead over Bal'mer. Rays, who had won 8 straight coming into tonight, are now virtually dead
And I don't want to say the Blue Jays suck or anything, but against the Yanx tonight they had 3 doubles, 2 singles, plus a walk in the first two innings alone ... and yet found a way not to score.

Central - Sox win, Tigers lose
Tigers down to one-game lead

[bmfc1]

The MFYs lose to Toronto 3-2 so with a win tonight, the Orioles move into a tie for 1st place.
BOS: Doubront (11-9, 4.91)
BAL: Johnson (4-0, 1.62)

[Fman99]

bmfc1 wrote: The MFYs lose to Toronto 3-2 so with a win tonight, the Orioles move into a tie for 1st place. BOS: Doubront (11-9, 4.91) BAL: Johnson (4-0, 1.62)

Defensive replacement Endy Chavez taking a hit away from some BoSox scrub in the top of the 9th with a diving catch, O's win 4-3 and tie up the MFYs.

[Guest themetfairy]

And Baltimore is tied for first place!

[Frayed Knot]

Orioles blew an early lead in that one but then pushed across the lead run again.

Oakland also wins so are 1 game back of the two-team East tie-up
Tampa also wins and sits 4 in back of Yanx/Balt and 3 behind Oakland for WC #2 - but they face Baltimore Mon-Wed so we're all going to be rooting against them anyway.

Anaheim at Texas rained out. Two games tomorrow I presume.

Detroit wins - ChiSox lose. 2 game Tiger lead again

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Is the tie-breaker predetermined or will there be a playoff game if they're both tied for 1st in the division ?

[Frayed Knot]

Unlike previous years when there was really no difference between winning the division and getting in via the WC, now if there's a tie for Div winner/WC there [u:eapewhff]WILL[/u:eapewhff] be a tie-breaking play-off game to determine which is which based on the idea that the advantage of being the winner is so pronounced.
There will NOT be play an extra game if it's merely to determine home field among the two WC teams.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'd love to see the Yankees, Orioles, A's, and Angels all finish with the same record. What a mess that would make!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

MFYs down 5-1; O's up 5-0.

[Frayed Knot]

O's hang on but Toronto blows their lead all to hell and the AL East remains tied.

O's then hung around on the field after their game ended as they and their fans watched as the scoreboard played the final inning of the Angels/Rangers game.
Baltimore would have clinched some kind of playoff slot had Texas won but, while they were watching, LAA scored twice w/2 out in the 9th to win.

[Frayed Knot]

West:
Angels drop the night-cap to Texas
Rangers clinch at least a spot in the playoffs but need one more win for the division
Angels can not win the division and can do no better than tie for WC #2 - at 3 games behind Oakland their 'tragic number' is one.
Oakland will at least play past Wednesday as they can only be caught by LAA and/or Tampa but not passed for WC #2 slot
Texas finishes at Oakland; Angels in Seattle

Central:
Detroit won 2-1 via a Prince 2R HR in the 8th
ChiSox lost (again!) and can no longer be a WC but can at best tie for the Central lead.
The magic/tragic number here is also 1. Tigers finish at KC; Sox at Cleveland

East:
Both Birds & Yanx clinch a playoff spot. Each can be caught and/or passed by each other and Oakland but not by anyone else.
Tampa needs to run the table and get help just to tie Oakland for WC #2
Orioles go to Tampa; Yanx host Minnesota

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Actually MFYs host Boston.

Big FU to Toronto for blowing that lead this afternoon.

[metirish]

Just flipped to YES, the starting nine for Boston?, wow, I know Ross and Buckholz, never heard of the others ....it looks like a Spring Training squad ...

[Frayed Knot]

No Pedroia or Ellsbury even.

And, gee, only 3 HRs served up by Buchholz so far!!

[metirish]

I am certain Gary said that Baltimore scored two in the 9th to take 5-3 lead......well no, in fact Tampa won 5-3.........damn

[Frayed Knot]

metirish wrote: I am certain Gary said that Baltimore scored two in the 9th to take 5-3 lead......well no, in fact Tampa won 5-3.........damn

The O's went into the 9th down 5-1, and immediately scored twice, then put the next two hitters on all with no outs.
Then, with the tying runs on and the go-ahead at the plate ... they went K, K, 1-3

[Frayed Knot]

Oakland winning Monday night puts them into the post-season while eliminating both Tampa & LAA even though both of them won

Things still left to be decided:

- Yanx one game up on Baltimore for East champ vs WC

- Texas one game up on Oakland for West champ vs WC. Because these two play each other this one, unlike the East, can't end in a tie. A's need both

- Various home-field questions
The better division winner gets the WC survivor instead of Detroit: Yanx & Texas currently with identical records and I have no idea how they'll handle it if things stay that way
The better WC team hosts the play-in game: O's & A's currently with even records

[duan]

what nearly happened, and would have been totally head splittingly hilarious
was a 5 way tie for two divisions and two wild cards.
How'd they have worked out them apples.

[Edgy MD]

I don't know, but I'm pretty sure however they did, the odd team out wouldn't have been the Yankees.

[MFS62]

duan wrote: what nearly happened, and would have been totally head splittingly hilarious was a 5 way tie for two divisions and two wild cards. How'd they have worked out them apples.

Bud will say its the team with the best record in Spring Training games.

Later