The Orioles won again tonight, and are now tied with Toronto for the Wild card lead. Detroit is 1.5 games back (washed out today against Cleveland), and Seattle are 2.5 back with a game tonight against Oakland.
The Yankees and Houston are now officially eliminated. The Detroit-Cleveland game has been rescheduled for Monday, if it’s needed to determine Wild Card spots.
Baltimore finish the season with 3 games in Yankee Stadium, the Blue Jays travel to Fenway Park, and Detroit go to Atlanta. On paper, Toronto have the toughest task in terms of opposition, but the Yankees have been playing pretty well, and Baltimore are 2-5 in New York this year. Detroit gets a bit lucky, facing the terrible Braves, but anything can happen in three games. Seattle is still in it, but if they lose tonight they’re all but gone.
Cubs and Pirates had a one hour rain delay and the umps called the game tied. Won’t be replayed as they don’t play each other the rest of the season and the game doesn’t mean anything in the standings. So it’s an official tie.
The Red Sox are the best team in the American League. I will be mildly surprised if they lose the ALDS - well, very mildly surprised if they lose to Cleveland, and very surprised if they lose to Texas or whatever team wins the wild card.
The fact Toronto has to play Boston to finish the season does not fill me with glee, and it looks increasingly likely the Jays are going to choke right out of even getting a wild card game. Boston still has home field to play for - at least for one day - so they’re not going to let up.
A series in which the Yankees swept the Red Sox, the Yankees were eliminated from playoff contention while the Red Sox clinched the division. Gotta love that.
Based on their lineup last night, I suspect the Sox will be resting just about everyone. Although, seeing as how the Jays are probably the team I’d least want to face in the postseason, I personally hope they try to win.
Damn right! Every freaking time the Giants sneak into a Wild Card slot they end up winning the whole thing! Time to drive a stake through their collective hearts this weekend.
Personally, I am hoping for the Cards and Giants to tie for that 2nd WC spot, and then the winner can tiredly come to visit the Mets in Queens. Let’s go Mets!
MLB has done a great job of misusing their replay rules. They’re saying the play must be challenged immediately and the 30 seconds it took Bryan Price to make the call to challenge was just too long. Never mind that the umpires could have made the call themselves. Or that this “immediate” challenge rule is not in place other than on a game-ending play. Might as well automatically challenge the ending to every game.
Not only that, but they shouldn’t have needed to overturn the call in the first place. It was clear as day that the ball hit the advertising signs, and the umpires should have known before the start of the game that those signs were out of play.