Post by Free Agent GM on Nov 13, 2008 0:51:01 GMT -5
The old saying goes...second place is the first loser. That really is true when it comes to baseball. Everyone wants to win the World Series, but if your not going to get there, may as well go out and grab the #1 draft pick. The Detroit Tigers took a step in that direction recently after being the first team mathematically eliminated. Being that most of the divisions are just about wrapped up attention turns to next year and more importantly, next years draft which I heard was star studded. The Tigers hold a 12.5 game lead toward grabbing the top pick. Milwaukee is next followed by San Diego and Oakland. From there things get more interesting as a lot of teams are bunched up.
Now back to the real races. In the AL it's pretty much the same old story. Minnesota and Cleveland are once again tied after the Twins took 2 out of three games head to head. But the Tribe are one up in the loss column and the two team do not play again in the regular season. The Twins have a healthy team while the Indians continue to be struck by injuries losing El Duque and Jim Thome for the next few weeks while Todd Jones and Ismeal Valdez are out already.
In the AL West it's Seattle who has a half game lead over Texas, who has a half game lead over Anaheim. This trio of teams have been at each others throats all year. If one team gets hot now then the division will be theirs to take. All 3 teams will have games against each other in the next sim. Our injury report has Seattle as the healthiest team while Texas is without Danny Kolb and Rafeal Palmero. Anaheim will have a new look soon as Tim Belcher and All Star Troy Glaus are out and David Eckstien, Benji Gill, and stud pitcher Ken Hill are back in. I really can't pick one here, it's just too close to call. My guess is we will see a one game playoff...but might we see 2?
The AL East and NL are the same as ever. Nothing exciting going on. Barring a collapse of Met proportions the Blue Jays, Marlins, Cardinals, Giants, and Pirates are all playoff bound. Might be time for some of the teams with bigger leads to start resting some regulars