Down the Stretch - AL Style

[Frayed Knot]

What a dud the AL WC race is turning out to be.

There was a time a few weeks back when the #2 WC team was changing over daily with at least six different teams involved and all were close enough to where if only one of them got even a
little bit hot they were in a position to throw the Yanx into that mix and make every one of their games do or die.
Instead it was the Yanx who got hot (12-5 in Sept) while every one of the other contenders has been around or below .500 for close to three weeks now (with the Orioles completely tanking).

As a result, the Yanx are not only 5.0 games up on the nearest pretender but they're in the midst of a series with those Twins who last won a playoff series back in 2002 and last beat the MFYs in an
important game sometime during the Jim Kaat era (playing era, not announcing).
Behind the Twins, only the blah Angels are close (-1.5) and then it's the sub-.500 crowd all 4.5 games back or worse.


The Yanx meanwhile have a better shot at catching and passing the BoSox than they do of even having to be the road team in a WC game.
The two don't play each other again this year (good thing for the Sox) but that 3.0 game BOS lead doesn't seem safe to me.

The Indians winning streak was fun to watch but it also put any notion of a race there to bed as they and the Astros have already clinched the Central & West.



Remaining Games:
NYY: Twins (2), @ TOR (3), Royals (1), Rays (3), Jays (3)
BOS: @ BAL (2), @ CIN (3), Jays (3), Astros (4)

MINN: @NYY (2), @ DET (4), @ CLE (3), Tigers (3)
LAA: Indians (3), @ HOU (3), @ CHIW (4), Mariners (3)

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm following the Red Sox only closely enough to know that something's desperately wrong with them this year, they look like a club that's probably due an early playoff exit and an ugly reckoning.

[Frayed Knot]

It's certainly an odd Red Sox team in that they're at the low end of the power scale - DFL in AL HRs in fact.
Also inconsistent pitching beyond Sale at the front end and Kimbrel at the back.
They're throwing Price into the bullpen, probably for the remainder of the season, now that he's off his latest DL stint. That makes for one very expensive set-up man but it's probably the right move
considering his season.

[Edgy MD]

But Mookie.

[ashie62]

Rooting hard for the Twins to hang on to WC2. I believe the Twins o/u this year was 58 1/2 or some wild number.

They are up on the Angels by 1 1/2 and very possibly could have a post season wild card game against the MFY'S

GO TWINKIES!!

[ashie62]

Edgy MD wrote: But Mookie.

Betting on it?

[Frayed Knot]

I wouldn't mind seeing the Twins either but I have no faith in them vs the Yanx.
Just take tonight for instance, the Yanx have scored 4 different times all with two outs, twice following Minn errors which extended the innings.
It's like they think up new ways to lose whenever they see pinstripes.

[bmfc1]

Interesting perspective from The Times on the MFYs beating The Twins:

The Yankees at the moment are faced with a perplexing riddle, because each time they beat the Twins in this series — and fail to pick up any ground on the Red Sox — they increase the odds that they will not get to play them in the A.L. wild-card game. The Twins entered Tuesday nursing a one-and-a-half-game lead for the second wild-card spot over the Los Angeles Angels. And while the Angels may not be any more formidable than the Twins, it is hard to imagine the Yankees relishing the prospect of a one-game playoff against Mike Trout, the Angels outfielder widely viewed as the best player in baseball.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah well fortunately Boston keeps squeaking past Baltimore -- two extra inning wins in a row -- otherwise the Yanx would already be on the verge of being able to sit out the WC round.

I'm sure the Yanx would rather play the Twins than the Angels but that's based on the Twinkies history of barely showing up vs the MFYs in important games (like these last two for instance) and little or
nothing to do with Trout. Mostly it's a top pitcher you fear more in a one-game play-in and they'll take Severino over anything either of those choices can thrown at them.
For Minnesota they'll probably try to line up the decent, through hardly great, Ervin Santana for the WC game if they can; for Anaheim it seems to come down to either their leader in games pitched this
year which is Ricky Fucking Nolasco [6-14; 5.12] or their best ERA guy who is something named Parker Birdwell [3.71 in 17 starts]

[ashie62]

Texas picked up a game last night.

[HahnSolo]

Come on Angels, overtake the Twins please. I can't watch a 1-game playoff where the opponent plays dead against the MFYs. Twins are a disgrace against this team.

At least with Anaheim there's a chance Trout will go off; and Scioscia for all has flaws has eliminated the Yanks from the postseason twice.

[Frayed Knot]

Yup, Twins jumped out to a 3-0 lead vs the Yanx and Luis Severino in the Bronx this afternoon - and then promptly gave up [crossout:16jwnxi1]10[/crossout:16jwnxi1] 11 to assure that a sweep is in order and the history of suck continues.
I also wonder how the Twins feel about deciding to cut bait in August and deal off Jamie Garcia, only to then get beat by Jamie Garcia in a game against the team you're fighting for a playoff spot.

[Frayed Knot]

Both the Yanx & Red Sox have won 11 of their last 14 games so are neither gaining ground nor putting the other away.

The fate of the AL East could come down to how the Astros opt to play that final four-game series with Boston; who they'll pitch, who they'll rest, etc.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

My kids would like the Sox to clinch when we go to the game on Tuesday night, but that would require that some AL team actually step up and beat the MFYs.

[ashie62]

In the names of Harmon Killebrew Tony Oliva and jim Kaat C'MON TWINS!

[Frayed Knot]

Yanx lose, BoSox hang on vs the Reds which now makes it 4 games with 9 left to play each. PROBABLY a big enough gap.

Also: Twins win, Angels are losing, Rangers just getting started.

[Frayed Knot]

Yanx clinch a post-season spot (as if that was in doubt at this point) with their win over Toronto today, but Boston wins as well keeping the gap at 4.0 games and taking another day off the sked - so a good day for Boston overall.

[Frayed Knot]

Minnesota, down two to the Tigers, just had an eight-run 8th to take a 10-3 lead.
Even with tonight's win it'll only make them 7-7 over the last two weeks, but every other WC contender (except the Yanx) have been worse so this pretty much sews up WC #2 for them and a date in YSIII
a week from Tuesday. The Angels picked the wrong time to have back to back series with Cleveland and Houston on their schedule.

[Edgy MD]

And Oakland catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first MLB-er to take a knee for the national anthem.

#solidarity.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

The four-game Red Sox/Astros series next week is going to be interesting in that you'll have two teams desperately not trying to show anything that may help their opponent in the postseason.

[Frayed Knot]

I suppose that series will depend on how things go between now and then.

If the Yanx creep closer over the next five days forcing the Sox to still need to put away the division, and/or if the Astros determine that finishing with a better record than Cleveland is both within
reach and worth going for (currently Cleveland +1.5), then it'll be closer to a full-out series.
If neither holds true then, yeah, it'll be a lot of feinting and jabbing with cards in the hole not played.

Back in '97 the Indians intentionally held rookie pitcher Jaret Wright out of a late season (Sept 23-25) series with the Yanx on the idea that he had only been called up in June, the Yanx had never
seen him, and the two teams might meet up in the post-season.
They of course did meet up and Wright, with all of 16 ML games under his belt, wound up starting and winning Games 2 and 5 to help put away the champs in that best of five series.

[Frayed Knot]

And how about Gary last night, during a brief discussion of the AL playoffs, suggesting that getting the best record wouldn't necessarily be the best thing on account of probably having the face
the Yanquis in the 1st (post-WC) round and how the Indianstros would probably rather face Boston because "the Yanx are just so hot now".
Yes Gary, the Yanx are a scorching hot 16-9 over their last 25 while the Red Sox are a measly 17-8

[Benjamin Grimm]

I went about six weeks this year without watching any baseball, and when I came back to it and heard Gary again I found myself rolling my eyes a lot.

And by the way: HE NEEDS TO STOP SAYING JAY-OR-REESE! Jeez, learn the fucking guy's name, will you?

[Frayed Knot]

Yanx lose today (despite two more A. Judge HRs) while Boston up their non hot streak to 18-8, all of which pretty much puts the AL East race to rest: 5 up with 7 to go and no head-to-heads

And another Twins win today leaves them snugly wrapped in the WC #2 slot: 4.5 games behind the Yanx and a full 5.0 ahead of the Angels (pending tonight's LAA vs HOU game)

So the only drams left (if you consider home field to constitute drama) is whether the Indians (currently 2.0 games up) keep the top slot over the Astros.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

Frayed Knot wrote: Back in '97 the Indians intentionally held rookie pitcher Jaret Wright out of a late season (Sept 23-25) series with the Yanx on the idea that he had only been called up in June, the Yanx had never seen him, and the two teams might meet up in the post-season. They of course did meet up and Wright, with all of 16 ML games under his belt, wound up starting and winning Games 2 and 5 to help put away the champs in that best of five series.

Turned out to be Wright's peak as a major leaguer.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

Frayed Knot wrote: I suppose that series will depend on how things go between now and then. If the Yanx creep closer over the next five days forcing the Sox to still need to put away the division, and/or if the Astros determine that finishing with a better record than Cleveland is both within reach and worth going for (currently Cleveland +1.5), then it'll be closer to a full-out series. If neither holds true then, yeah, it'll be a lot of feinting and jabbing with cards in the hole not played.

Sox are currently only 4 games back on Astros so they could use the head-to-head games to get home field advantage too.

[Frayed Knot]

Yanx have a rare Monday day game due to an earlier rain-out make-up at home vs KCR, all of which gives a chance for Aaron Judge's ridiculous streak-a-thon of a season to continue.
After HR'ing 27 times (and hitting well over .300) in April, May & June, he then totaled just 10 in July & August combined while hitting around .210
Well thanks to the two he's hit already this afternoon (game in the 8th inning) his September HR total is now up to 13 including 7 in the last 7 games.
It also brings his season total to 50 topping Mark McGwire's 49 in 1987 as the previous rookie record

8-3 Yanx - top 8th

[Frayed Knot]

Twins finally sewed up the 2nd WC spot, not by winning themselves but by waiting for the Angels to lose which pretty much sums up how that AL WC race went.
Twins have gone 13-12 in September so far and built a gap of five or more games on everyone else.


So all the AL teams are set with the only remaining battles left are those for seeding.
The Yanx/Sawx is really the only consequential one. Sox have a 3 game lead and a magic number of 2 which means it's going to take a sweep on one side and maybe on both over the final four games
for the Yanx to avoid the WC play-in which Joe Girardi suddenly thinks should be 2-of-3.
The one thing the Yanx have going for them is that the BoSox host Houston who have a minor incentive in that they're only one game in back of Cleveland.


Yanx:
Rays x1, Blue Jays x3

Red Sox:
Astros x4

[MFS62]

Going into the last weekend of the season the AL leads the NL by 158-139 in Interleague play.
When I checked on this a few weeks ago, the AL was ahead by only 3 games.
I was hoping the NL could win this year.
Now that the All Star Game isn't the deciding factor, does this decide which league's champ will have the home team advantage (4-3) in the World Series?

Later

[Chad ochoseis]

Nope...it goes to whichever team has the better regular season record, as it should.