As the sun has set on the regular season of Major League Baseball earlier tonight, unanswered questions remain about the final eight teams that will be playing on into the American and National League Divison Series. Naturally, with the MLB's new rule of a one-game playoff for the 4th and 5th place finishers in each league leaves questions marks as to which team will play as the Wild Card, but the wild race in the American League has furthur complicated the situation.
At my last post two weeks ago, six teams were alive and fighting for those two American League Wild Card spots. Tonight, 3 of those 6 teams still have a chance. The Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Kansas City Royals all fell out of contention (in that order), while the Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays, and Cleveland Indians had strong, winning weeks to keep their postseason hopes alive. By the time play ended today, the Indians led the way with an impressive final regular season record of 92-70. The Rangers and Rays are right on their heels, finishing at 91-71 apiece. The National League situation is and has been much less intense, as the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds have held the two wild card positions for the last few months, and will square off in their long-expected one game battle on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. The winner of the Pirates and Reds one-game playoff will earn a first round series with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The A.L. situation leaves us with a one-game playoff tiebreaker to determine who will play in the official one-game playoff. This tiebreaker will be between Texas and Tampa Bay, played in Arlington on Monday night, with the winner travelling to Cleveland to match up with the Indians on Wednesday night. The winner of that game in Cleveland will earn a spot in the Division Series against the Boston Red Sox.
While it is too early to release my official playoff predictions with so many teams still fighting for the wild card position, I will make predictions for the three wild card games to be played this week. After these scores are settled, I will make my official 2013 MLB playoff predictions.
For this week, I see Tampa Bay edging the Rangers in a tough game Monday night in Texas. Reigning A.L. Cy Young award winner David Price will have a good start against the Rangers rookie Martin Perez, and the Rays will earn a date with the Indians on Wednesday night. The Indians have had a magical season, and I'll make a prediction that it will continue past Wednesday night, and that they will win and move on to battle Boston. In the National League, the Pirates have just come off of a weekend sweep on the Reds in Cincinnati and are playing great ball. They send Francisco Liriano to the mound, who is 11-1 when pitching at home in Pittsburgh this season. The Reds will counter with Johnny Cueto, who has recently come back after a back injury and has looked solid since his return. I see the Pirates staying hot behind their best home pitcher and playing into October for the first time since 1992.
However, nothing I say will make a difference - the only thing left to do is wait for the games to be played! There's nothing better than October baseball.
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