We write now and then for not-quite-baseball fans, or for aspiring baseball fans, or for—maybe especially in this case—baseball fans who’ve had a busy summer.
Here’s where the league stands, team by team, as we enter the stretch run:
The Also-Rans
Arizona Diamondbacks
Baltimore Orioles
Texas Rangers
Pittsburgh Pirates
Minnesota Twins
Miami Marlins
Kansas City Royals
Colorado Rockies
Washington Nationals
Detroit Tigers
Chicago Cubs
These eleven are in various stages of the also-ran experience—the Tigers are playing well and having fun, the Nationals and Cubs just came to terms with reality and sold off their parts, the Twins were an unexpected disaster this year, if American professional sports had consequences for mismanagement the Rockies would be on their way to semi-professional status, etc.—but they’re all alike in that they have no bearing on the playoff race, and if you are a casual fan, you do not need to worry about them until further notice.
The Almost-Certainly-Nots
Cleveland Soon-To-Be Guardians (new name!)
Anaheim Angels (we respect geography more than trademarked phrases here)
Seattle Mariners
St. Louis Cardinals
These four probably aren’t going to be a factor much longer, but none are technically eliminated and each has either the pieces or the proximity to the playoff race to not be entirely written off.
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That’s the bottom half. For the top half, we’ll go race-by-race.
NL East
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Atlanta Braves (not changing their name and somehow not getting rid of the Tomahawk Chop?)
The Mets should hold these guys off, but they’re only up three or four games, Jacob deGrom is hurt, and both Philly and Atlanta have enough pieces to keep them interesting. No real wild card shot for any of them.
NL Central
Milwaukee Brewers
This is pretty much over.
NL West/NL Wild Card
San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
Cincinnati Reds (wild card only)
The Giants just haven’t gone away. We keep expecting them to go away, but they haven’t yet, and now they’re three games up on the Dodgers and about a week up on the Padres, and the Dodgers are the favorite but the Giants have a real chance and are almost assured of a wild card spot even if they do get caught.
The Padres, meanwhile, are probably safe but do have the Reds in the rearview. Philly/Atlanta situation there in which it could happen but either someone would have to really mess up or someone else would have to really overperform.
AL West
Houston Astros
The A’s aren’t gone yet, but the Astros have gained enough that Oakland will be in the wild card section of this.
AL Central
Chicago White Sox
This is the most over of the division races, and we would categorize two as over.
AL East
Tampa Bay Rays
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox should be getting a crucial reinforcement soon in the form of Chris Sale, but after this weekend’s sweep in St. Petersburg, the Rays lead by two in the loss column. The loser isn’t assured of a wild card place, but will likely find one. Similarly, the Yankees and Blue Jays could make this a race, but to get there they’ll have to grab a wild card spot first anyway, so we’ll deal with them next.
AL Wild Card
Oakland Athletics
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays
This is a whole lot of fun, especially on the Eastern side where the Blue Jays are the most likable team in baseball and the Yankees are doing things like putting three outfielders out there at once who are all 6’5” or taller and 235 lbs. or heavier. Yankees have been a mess at a lot of points this year (losing, Covid outbreak, putting a lot of money into a guy somewhat disarmed by baseball choosing to finally enforce an old and reasonable rule), but they’re looking formidable once more.
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In the immediate term, we’ve got two fun mid-week series on the West Coast this week, with the Padres going to Oakland and the Astros going to Los Angeles for two-game interleague sets. Then, next weekend, the Mets are in Philadelphia while the Red Sox go to Toronto and the Giants visit the Brewers. Lot going on. Lot of fun. Join us.
