MLB Week in Review (September 2-8)
The race is finally here as the postseason is approaching fast and teams are preparing for the most exciting time in the season.
There are a few teams that are looking for their spot in the postseason is guaranteed.
With a few more wins they will clinch their spot and begin preparing for October baseball where they pursue the title that everyone plays for.
The race is far from over though as the postseason is still open and this is about the time that teams begin to make their moves.
Throughout the season getting to a postseason spot seems like a good possibility for every team as they all believe they can achieve that goal.
As the season moves on some teams see those hopes dashed pretty quickly as they start piling up losses that eventually push them out of contention.
Other teams start piling up wins early which then helps them have an easier time making the postseason later in the season.
Both of these groups of teams have those few outliers though that always either have a chance or run the risk of being eliminated.
These teams are the ones who enter the last month of the season in a deceiving position and are perfectly poised to change their circumstances, whether for better or for worse.
The More often than not, the signs are all there at the end of August and heading into the first few days of September.
Some teams begin looking good and start to play good teams and take big wins while other teams begin losing games that they shouldn’t.
A lot of these games aren’t considered overly important and most of the time they are brushed off.
After all, there are 162 games in a season so naturally team are going to have good stretches and bad stretches.
Overall these small stretches don’t matter because their overall season will shine through.
Then a week later the team playing poorly and losing games it should win has gone from division leader to wild-card hopeful.
The team that began winning the big games is going from preparing for a busy offseason to preparing for some bonus baseball.
It is something that happens every year as baseball has a long season and often near the end of the summer fans and teams begin to ease into their spots.
It seems as though everything is figured out and that the division leaders will walk into the postseason.
Yet there is still a lot of baseball to play and despite the long season, anything can happen in the last two months as teams can go from World Series favourites to postseason onlookers.
That is happening right now and it is the always interesting American League East that is the centre of the movement.
Only a few years ago it was home to one of the biggest collapses in baseball history and now there are two teams that might change positions when all is done.
The New York Yankees were sitting far from the postseason in the middle of August while the Toronto Blue Jays were on top of the division.
Both teams have begun playing their own division a lot more as the season comes to a close and for both, it has had opposite effects.
The Jays have struggled to win against their own division and they have allowed the Boston Red Sox, making their own midseason comeback, to take over the top spot in the East.
The fight is not looking good for the Jays if they can’t figure something out as the Red Sox continue to play strong while the Jays can’t get a series win even against the worst team in their division.
Meanwhile, the Yankees have been playing great for the last two months and are beginning to close the gap against their own division.
They could find themselves in the division title hunt before the end of the season and possibly could be eliminating the Jays in the process.
As the last month of the season continues the ups and downs of teams become so much more important.
One bad stretch now and all of the hard work throughout the season could be forgotten while on the flipside one good stretch can turn the season around as every team looks to lock up their spot before it’s too late.
Extra Innings
(More on this week in baseball)
Tebow to New York
In what is being described as a purely baseball move the New York Mets have signed Tim Tebow to a minor league deal as he impressed enough to get eight teams interested in what his potential could be
Nats Ace on the Mend
The Washington Nationals are finally under the radar in the postseason hunt as they hope to quietly find their spot but it will be tougher as Stephen Strasburg might not be around as he was hurt this week but might not miss all season
An Odd Start
When the rosters expanded there were sure to be a lot of firsts as rookies were set to get their chances in the major leagues and one player got his first in a weird way as Dansby Swanson hit his first home run inside the park
Key Series:
Chicago Cubs 3-1 San Francisco Giants
– The Cubs continued their quest to win the central as they took three games and the series win while the Giants continued to struggle heading into the postseason dropping the series and barely hanging onto a wild card spot
Texas Rangers 2-1 Houston Astros
– It was the last chance for Houston to make a run at the division and they couldn’t come through as they dropped two games to the Rangers who continue to lead the west and got closer to clinching their spot
New York Yankees 3-0 Toronto Blue Jays
– The Blue Jays began the week in the lead in the east and they went to New York were they continued to struggle to find wins as the Yankees swept the Jays putting them into the wild card and bringing the Yankees closer to the postseason
St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 Pittsburgh Pirates
– Heading into the series the Pirates had a shot at the division but another series loss to the Cards has kept them out while the Cards extended their lead in the wild card division while they continue to fight the Mets to take that last spot
Upcoming Series:
Kansas City Royals vs. Chicago White Sox [Sept. 9-11]
– The AL Wild Card race is extremely tough as the East has taken over but the defending champions are still in the hunt as they take on the White Sox looking to reduce their wild card deficit and put another division into the fight
Boston Red Sox vs. Toronto Blue Jays [Sept. 9-11]
– In a season where the east seemed to be figured out almost every team is making a run and the Red Sox are at the head of the pack as they look to extend their lead while the Jays try to shake-off their bad road trip to get back to the lead in the east
Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals [Sept. 12-14]
– The Cubs are getting close and everyone knows it as they look to get closer to that division title by beating their toughest competition while the Cards are trying to hang on to the final wild-card spot
Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago White Sox [Sept. 12-15]
– The Indians are trying to go down as the Cinderella story as nobody expected them to be here at this point but now they have a chance at winning the division and they try to get closer to that against the Sox
The Sport Addiction 