Other Races in Other Places

[Elster88]

9/19 - Wildcard	9/23 - Wildcard	9/24 - AL Central	9/25 - Wildcard	9/25 - Wildcard
9/26 - NL East	9/29 - NL West

[Zvon]

Kershaw pitches a complete game for the clinch. 1 hit/ 1bb/13k-Great performance
I imaging something like this will be impossible for NY to do in the post. Let a pitcher go the distance.

[Elster88]

The Red Sox, Rangers, and Angels all did their parts to keep the AL wildcard race interesting, but the Astros lost. Houston is now a half game OUT of the last wild card spot, where a little while ago it looked like they would win the division.

[Elster88]

This is a very mid-to-late-eighties set of playoff teams, especially the National League. Every NL East champ from 84 through 92 is in. Throw in the Dodgers and Royals as eighties teams, with the Blue Jays for a little early nineties flavor. If the Astros make it add them to the list of eighties playoff teams too.

[soupcan]

Zvon wrote: Kershaw pitches a complete game for the clinch. 1 hit/ 1bb/13k-Great performance I imaging something like this will be impossible for NY to do in the post. Let a pitcher go the distance.

Kershaw throws a 1 hit shutout and retires last 19 in a row throwing just 104 pitches. This guy is not fucking around. Between him and Greinke our boys are not going to have it easy against the Doyers.

[Elster88]

Blue Jays clinch the AL East with a solid beating of the Orioles

9/19 - Wildcard	9/23 - Wildcard	9/24 - AL Central	9/25 - Wildcard	9/25 - Wildcard
			9/30 - AL East
9/26 - NL East	9/29 - NL West

[Frayed Knot]

NL Central still (technically) up for grabs as Pitt also won this afternoon

Minnesota, also rained out last night and playing a DH today, won the first game to keep themselves still alive.
That Tanaka served up a 3R HR in top 1st in da Bronx is good news for the Twinkies as well.

And of course there's still the big mess in the AL West to sort out. We may be looking at a Monday play-in game in the AL

[Elster88]

Yankees are down 3-0. Twins have booked a win with one more game to come today. Interesting.

Edit: What FK said

[Edgy MD]

Just need Seattle and Cleveland to roll over.

[Elster88]

Cards smash the Pirates in game 2.

9/19 - Wildcard	9/23 - Wildcard	9/24 - AL Central	9/25 - Wildcard	9/25 - Wildcard
9/30 - NL Central			9/30 - AL East
9/26 - NL East	9/29 - NL West

[Ceetar]

Yankees magic number is 4, but there are only 4 games left. (1 Sox, 3 Orioles)

They're 3 up on the Angels, 4 on the Twins.

It's murky. Angels play 4 against the Rangers who are in first by 3. The Astros are only .5 up for that second wild card. They have 3 left against old-foe Diamondbacks.

The Angels against the Rangers probably means that the Yankees only need to win a couple to clinch, but lots of moving parts.

[Edgy MD]

Twins bit the big one last night and went down whining that the Indians don't play the game the right way. How disappointing, Paul Molitor's boys.

Angels are my new best friends. Lay down, Texas rangers, lay down.

[Frayed Knot]

Ceetar wrote: Yankees magic number is 4, but there are only 4 games left. (1 Sox, 3 Orioles) They're 3 up on the Angels, 4 on the Twins. It's murky. Angels play 4 against the Rangers who are in first by 3. The Astros are only .5 up for that second wild card. They have 3 left against old-foe Diamondbacks. The Angels against the Rangers probably means that the Yankees only need to win a couple to clinch, but lots of moving parts.

The Yanx magic number is 2, not 4, at least as far as just making the post-season goes.
The MN is just 1 on the Twins who already can do no better than tie them. And 2 wins means neither the Astros nor Angels can catch them and if the Angels do catch them it means the Rangers fall back.

[Elster88]

If the Yankees with another game they're in.

[Zvon]

Yanks one out away from clinching. Up on Boston, 4-1.

Yanks get WILD(card)!
Boooooooo!

[Elster88]

Texas clinches at least a wildcard by beating California. One more win and they'll win the west.

9/19 - Wildcard	9/23 - Wildcard	9/24 - AL Central	9/25 - Wildcard	9/25 - Wildcard
9/30 - NL Central			9/30 - AL East
9/26 - NL East	9/29 - NL West	10/1 - Wildcard	10/1 - Wildcard

[Frayed Knot]

Boston did their best in taking three straight and attempting to hold off the inevitable.
Suxx to think that we could have put a bigger dent in their hopes, but we blew it early in the year when they sucked and then again later in the year when we were hot.


So now it's all down to the AL West & WC.
Rangers just need one win. Houston has a 1 game lead on both the Angels & rarely-mentioned Twins who have won 8 of their last 11 to stay alive.
Twins hosting KC
Anaheim at Texas
Houston at Arizona



And it is still possible for the Cubs to pass the Pirates and claim the home field for the WC game. Pitt has a 2 game lead although Cubs have the tie-breaker.
Pirates host Cincy. Cubs @ Milwaukee

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

This must be a big moment for the diehard Yankee fans who haven't seen their team in the playoffs since all the way back in 2012.

[Ceetar]

Mets � Willets Point wrote: This must be a big moment for the diehard Yankee fans who haven't seen their team in the playoffs since all the way back in 2012.

If it is, you'd think they'd bother to sell out the playoff games that have been on sale for weeks.

[Frayed Knot]

In a fit of sleeplessness last night when I turned on WFAN for an hour or so in the pre-sunrise. Yanqui fans who were chiming in seem divided between those who thought a WC was more than they expected this season given the state/age of the roster and a two year absence, and the ones who fell back on the idea that the players celebrating such a minor achievement after last night's clinching win was beneath the dignity of the pinstripes because anything short of a WS win should be looked at as disgraceful failure.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Ceetar wrote: Mets � Willets Point wrote: This must be a big moment for the diehard Yankee fans who haven't seen their team in the playoffs since all the way back in 2012. If it is, you'd think they'd bother to sell out the playoff games that have been on sale for weeks.

Do you think there are enough "diehard" Yankee fans to fill a stadium?

[Frayed Knot]

Wild back and forth game in Arlington, TX which winds up with Anaheim scoring 5 in the 9th to win 11-10
Both teams blew multiple run leads. 17 pitchers were used. Time of Game = 4:06
Former NYM Joe Smith gets the save. Elvis Andrus singled w/2 out in bottom 9th as the tying run, then got caught stealing by over-sliding 2nd base to end the game (he was safe otherwise).
Of all the pitchers used, one-time Brave Jo-Jo Reyes was the winning pitcher for LAA. It was his first MLB appearance since 2011!! He threw one pitch.

Bottom line is that's two straight losses for the Rangers who still haven't nailed down the West title.
Also (seeing as how these are head to head) two straight wins for the Angels who move to 1/2 game behind Houston for the 2nd WC slot (pending the Astros game later) and everyone moves up temporarily on the Yanx who lost the first one of their rain-induced DH today in Baltimore.
Yanx have clinched a tie for the best WC record but can still be caught by the Astros (2 back with 2 games each) who have the tie-breaker edge over NYY for WC hosting privileges. Angels can't catch the Yanx but they can displace Houston.

Twins lost and are eliminated.

NL is relatively boring compared to all this.

[Edgy MD]

Road teams entering the 9th down 4+ runs had lost 1,761 consecutive games� until the Angels today.

[Frayed Knot]

Pittsburgh getting all they can handle from woeful Cincy. They needed extras to win last night but lost to the Reds today while the Cubbies were winning vs Milwaukee.
That race down to one game with one to play and the Cubs holding the tie-breaker - so the home-field for the WC play-in game could flip-flop based on tomorrow's results.

[Frayed Knot]

And it's official, we're headed to LA for the game on Friday. Time of game TBD


Houston is about to wrap things up in Arizona (although maybe shouldn't say that in light of the Rangers collapse earlier today). The win will put them one game in back of Texas and one game ahead of LAA
IOW, they clinch at least a tie for the WC and could still win the division. The worst they could do is play on Monday to determine their status going forward.
Also, with the Yanx losing twice today, the Astros could still steal the #1 WC slot and host the game on Tuesday.

[Gwreck]

Texas wins. Clinch division, and clinches Wild Card for Astros.

Pirates win. (Cubs also win their 8th game in a row). Wild Card game in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Toronto loses, gives Royals best record in the AL. Rangers will face Toronto in the Division Series. Royals will get the winner of the wild card game.

Orioles in a heroic effort, on verge of sweeping Yankees (leading in the bottom of the 8th). Houston loses, though, and will play at MFYs on Tuesday in Wild Card game.

[Guest cooby]

Pirates are a fun team to watch