Sure about this one? I would think the padres would play the giants with the loser playing Atlanta.
Yes, you’re right.
I just checked the rules, and there would, in fact, be two playoff games. I was originally under the impression that they would decide the Division by tiebreaker, then the Wild Card by playoff, but i was wrong.
Basically, this means that, unless the Padres sweep the Giants and the Phillies sweep the Braves, San Diego has to win 5 games in a row to make the playoffs. Not too confident about their ability to do that right now, he said in the understatement of the year.
Sigh :crosses fingers:
Just 4 in a row will get them in. Of course they will still need to score a run or 2.
Oops, my bad.
Of course, if they win the first elimination game, they wouldn’t have to play the second.
Aaron Hill’s had just about the weirdest statistical year I’ve ever heard of. When you hear of someone hitting .206 with 25 HR, you figure it’s something like Rob Deer, or Gorman Thomas. Something involving 175+ strikeouts. Not this time though.
WTF? The Yankees/Red Sox got rained out tonight. They’re going to make up the game tomorrow as part of a day/night doubleheader. The second game starts at 9:05 PM!
Fans who had tickets for tonight have to use them for the second game.
The earlier game is part of Fox’s national broadcast so it can’t be played earlier. But starting a game at 9 at night?
I would have made it a day/night double header on Sunday since the Sunday start is 1:05. That won’t kill the Yankees since they won’t have to play again until Wednesday.
Well, i’m not counting any chickens yet, but things went as well as they could have gone for the Padres today, with San Diego getting a win over the Giants and the Phillies defeating the Braves.
Let’s Go Padres!
Now i’m getting a little nervous, because the Padres could actually pull this off.
They beat the Giants today, and the Braves got trounced by the Phillies, leaving San Diego one behind San Francisco in the West, and tied with the Braves for the Wild Card.
A San Diego win and an Atlanta loss tomorrow means that the Padres win the West and the Giants take the Wild Card.
A San Diego loss and a Braves loss means the two teams play for the Wild Card.
A San Diego win and a Braves win puts us in a two-playoff scenario, with a one-game playoff between the Giants and Padres for the West, followed by a one-game playoff between the loser and the Braves for the Wild Card.
A San Diego loss and a Braves win means the Padres are dead and Atlanta takes the Wild Card.
Today’s game was great, although it got a bit too exciting for me at the end. The Padres took a three-run lead into the ninth, but Heath Bell allowed some hits and a run scored. With only 1 out, the Giants had a man on third, the tying run on first, and the winning run at the plate. But Bell got pinch-hitter Jose Guillen to ground to Miguel Tejada, who took the ball to second himself and fired to first for the game-ending 6-3 double play. Whew!
It was good seeing the wind taken out of the screaming Giants fans and their stupid orange towels.
Has a team ever had 5 straight games, any one of which would have clinched reaching the next round, and lost all 5?
I know the Yankees had 4 straight potential clinchers and lost them all to the Red Sox.
But it seems inevitable that the Giants are going to lose 5 potential playoff clinching games in a row. Most likely that has never happened in baseball history.
San Fran will remain the oldest team with no championships. It is only fitting that they discover new and unique ways to torture their fans.
That’s the new unofficial slogan for the 2010 Giants:
Giants Baseball…Toture!
After how they played all September long, I have a hard time believing the Giants could lose 4 straight to start October. But just in case…GO PHILLIES!!!
Well, i wouldn’t count the Giants out yet. Jonathan Sanchez has pitched very well all year, and particularly well against San Diego. Mat Latos has had a great year, but he’s really struggled over the last month, going 1-5 with a 6.21 ERA in September.
If the Giants do lose tomorrow, they will really be hoping that the Braves lose as well, so they don’t find themselves in a situation where they have to play one or two elimination games to make the playoffs. At least if the Giants lose and the Braves lose, SF gets in as the Wild Card.
Only if you consider it a different team from the NY Giants, who won in 1954. The Cubs (1908) and Cleveland (1948) have gone longer.
I was literally feeling sick after the game today. There’s just no effing way they can miss the playoffs. I would involving losing the last 3, the West playoff, and the WC playoff. A failure of epic proportions.
GO PHILLIES indeed! But GO GIANTS even more!
Joe
I said “no championships”, not “gone longer without one.”
It is debatable which is worse.
In any case, San Fran is the oldest baseball city with no championship.
If you count the NY teams for SF, the oldest franchise with no championship is the Senators/Rangers.
What a crazy-assed, improbable conclusion to the NL West we have here!
C’mon guys, wrap it up, I want to know whom my Reds will be playing before the end of the week!
No you don’t. You want these teams to kill each other before they play you.
Eh, you’re probably right. Get 'em all good and tired while we rest up after today…
Why would the Braves winning or not have any bearing on the NL West? If the Padres win today, why don’t they win the division irregardless of Atlanta’s performance? 
Anyway, I’ll be at the game today, one of a few lone Padre fans in the sea of orange. Go SD! (and Philly, too!)