MLB: Wild Card Races

Posted on | August 16, 2009 | No Comments

A lot has been written in this blog about the divisional races in each league. However, there hasn’t been a lot of attention paid to the Wild Card races in each league. And these races are very close and they look like they’ll come right down to the wire.

The cool thing about the Wild Card races is that it looks like there isn’t any chance for these Wild Card teams to win their division. So, they either win the Wild Card or they miss the playoffs.

Just about 2 weeks ago that’s a position the Boston Red Sox wouldn’t have thought they’d be in. They were leading the AL East and challenging for the best record in baseball. Now, they are a whopping 7.5 games behind the Yankees. But they’re still leading the Wild Card, but only by .5 game. The Texas Rangers beat them last night. So, if the Rangers win today then the Red Sox will wake-up tomorrow morning on the outside looking in.

Over in the National League the Colorado Rockies currently lead the Wild Card race. But they are just a game ahead of San Francisco Giants. Then the Florida Marlins are just a game behind the Giants and the Atlanta Braves are just a game behind the Marlins. Then the Chicago Cubs are just a half game behind the Braves (just 3.5 games back).

So, the National League is completely up for grabs. And that’s a good thing because no divisional race in the National League is close at the moment. But some of the races have gotten a lot closer. In fact, the Dodgers and the Phillies were close to behind ahead by double digit games and now they are just 4.5 and 4 games up.

But for right now, the really close races are the Wild Card races (though the AL Central is just 2.5 games). And this is where every game really counts this time of year.

Related posts:

1. MLB: Wild Card Races are Wild
2. MLB: Wild Card Races Getting Hotter
3. MLB: Great Race in NL Wild Card
4. MLB: Tight Races
5. NFL: Previewing Sunday’s Wild Card Games

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