MLB: Great Race in NL Wild Card

Posted on | September 1, 2009 | No Comments

Just as I wrote in the last post, games are going to seem to mean even more now that the calendar just flipped to September. But in the National League all of the division races are over. Yes, that’s what I believe and I’m sticking to it. But the Wild Card race is another story completely. But let’s look at the divisional races first.

In the NL East the Philadelphia Phillies will win this division and they’ll probably finish with the best record in the NL. The Braves are7.5 games back and the Marlins are 8.5 games back. Just give the division to the Phillies right now.

In the NL Central I still can’t believe the Chicago Cubs have tanked as bad as they have. What I thought would be a race to the end has turned into a yawner. The St. Louis Cardinals now lead the Cubs by 10.5 games and that’s just too big of a lead. The Cards will win this division and look to make some major noise in the postseason.

In the National League West the Los Angeles Dodgers carry a 5.5 game lead over the San Francisco Giants and the Colorado Rockies. While the Dodgers have stumbled a lot lately, they are still in control of this division. And, mostly thanks to the Rockies sliding over the last several games, I am comfortable picking the Dodgers again.

But the Wild Card race is another story entirely. The Rockies and the San Francisco Giants are deadlocked as we go into September. The Atlanta Braves are now only 3 games back. But this race will come down to the Giants and the Rockies and it will be the best race in all of baseball. As I’ve written before, the Giants will win the race mostly because of their superior pitching.

So, from the National League we’ll have the Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, and Giants in the playoffs.

Related posts:

1. MLB: Wild Card Races Getting Hotter
2. MLB: Wild Card Races are Wild
3. MLB: Wild Card Races
4. MLB: Tightest Divisional Race in Baseball
5. MLB: Looking at the National League

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