Richard Castle - contributing reporter
- #1 Pick
- Columbus - the current favorite to "win"?!? Buffalo & Washington DC. With Buffalo in a race for the division, I'd expect them to go all out for each and every single win they can get. But DC is one of the worst pitching teams in the league, with a near 5.00 ERA; I think the top pick is there's to lose. One more L and they reach 100, then we celebrate!!!
- Dover (3 games back) - Minnesota & Milwaukee. Minnesota in their own division battle that matches Columbus' vs Buffalo. Their fate will come down to their series against Milwaukee and what Columbus does against DC.
- Mexico City (3 games back) - Monterrey & Huntington - Both teams are fighting for the wildcard seeding, Skynet predicts they lose out and Vegas agrees. But will it be enough to claim the top pick?!?
- Santa Fe (4 games back) - WAYYYY outside chance. Requires SF to basically win out, and Columbus to sweep DC while at least taking 1 game against Buffalo just to tie. San Juan & New Orleans. The San Juan series will be the one to watch. The matchup against New Orleans is interesting, they've secured their first round bye and their players have mostly been well rested all year; so benching them would only be due to injury concern; but I could see the NOOFs letting Martin and Quevedo play as they make a push for the NL MVP; and Swann, Combs, and Bonilla pitch as they go for the NL Cy Young....but then again it's a major hitter's park and those could hurt their numbers.
- NL as it stands today
- (1) New Orleans v -bye-
- (4) Pittsburgh v (5) Chicago
- (3) Oklahoma City v (6) Buffalo
- (2) Hartford v -bye-
- Tie breakers were assumed, using the waiver
- NL North
- This is interesting because each team is 9-1 over the last team, with Chicago on a 6 game win streak. Each has also won over 100 games this season.
- Hartford @ Tacoma & Montreal @ Chicago
- Tacoma has the slightly better pitching but walks more batters; given the Hartford team is one of the most patient in the NL that should give them (Tacoma) troubles. I'll give the nod to Hartford for this series as their pitching should have no problems handling the Aroma hitting. I'd look for Hartford to set their pitching based on facing Chicago in the final series.
- Chicago @ Hartford
- If this determines the division, winner takes home the division; loser faces off against the worst record of OKC and Pittsburgh/Buffalo division winner and has to go through New Orleans in the second round. I haven't looked at the rotations, but I'd expect Cy Young candidate Nigel White to pitch game 1 of this series, setting him up to get rest for a Game 1 playoff start. Alton Drew would likely be his opponent in a key match up, assuming he's rested and ready to go.
- NL East
- Pittsburgh with a 2 game lead, but with an upcoming three games series, that could easily turn things around. Buffalo is slightly more tired, but not enough to change the outcome.
- Pittsburgh @ Washington DC & Buffalo @ Columbus
- Buffalo has the advantage here, facing off against a team who is just a shadow of its self from the start of the season. In fact, I think they even ran a contest where the winning fan...out of the 4 at the game, got to pitch the 9th inning. Pittsburgh needs to win 2 here, if not a sweep to enter the last series up at least 2.
- Buffalo @ Pittsburgh
- This series could go either way, and will be fun to watch. Pittsburgh is a little tired and could decide to rest their bats; but claiming the division would be huge for them. A back and forth series could see OKC take over the #3 seed; which means this winner has to go through New Orleans if they can survive the loser of the NL North. If one team sweeps and OKC struggles a bit; we could see a rematch of this series in the first round of the playoffs.
- NL West
- Tokyo @ OKC followed by Portland @ OKC
- OKC has the playoffs, but these two series could determine if they have to go through New Orleans or the winner of the NL North. They are currently the 3 seed in the playoffs, and while the North winner will get a little rest, they are still in a battle for the division that should keep them playing through the rest of the season.
- NL Wildcard
- NL North loser takes Wildcard 1
- NL East loser takes Wildcard 2 and with a small chance could actually play the winner of the NL East. Currently OKC and Pittsburgh are tied, I believe OKC wins the tiebreaker.
- AL as it stands today
- (1) Houston v -bye-
- (4) Helena v (5) Monterrey
- (3) Philadelphia v (6) Huntington
- (2) Atlanta v -bye-
- Tie breakers were assumed, using the waiver
- Appears Huntington may miss the playoffs due to a tiebreaker
- AL North
- Philly going 8-2 while Minny going 3-7 over the last 10 really shook things up in the division. Philly now sits with a 3 game lead.
- Minnesota @ Dover & Milwaukee @ Philadelphia
- Minnesota takes the slight edge with the easier team and the fact that Philly has struggled at home this season. But Milwaukee's 3-7 record over the last 10 likely improves Philly's chances.
- Philadelphia @ Minnesota
- If both win the same games last series, Minny enters needing to sweep to make the playoffs and that's only if they own the tie breaker. A sweep would help that for sure.
- AL West
- Helea has a 1 game lead on Colorado Springs entering their 3 game series. It's baseball, anything could happen!
- Colorado Springs @ Helena
- Unlike the two NL divisions and the NL North; this division head to head is the series before the end of the season.
- Helena @ Anaheim & Seoul @ Colorado Springs
- If Helena can survive the head to head matchup, they will have the easier end to the season.
- AL Wildcard
- Boston @ New York & Mexico City @ Monterrey & Huntington @ Houston
- New York is playing for their lives, down 2 games for Wildcard 2. Boston is 4 games back and but I've seen magic happen before. Huntington has Houston but they are resting their starters for their first round bye, so not as tough as a matchup as one would think.
- Atlanta @ New York & Houston @ Monterrey & Huntington @ Mexico City
- Normally I'd say Huntington has the easiest matchup, but the other two will surely be facing backups for Atlanta and Houston as they rest for the playoffs. But lucky for Huntington, Mexico City has been a bottom of the barrel team this season. Houston and Atlanta could however greatly effect who they see in the second round if their starters come to play. Are you playing Checkers....or Chess?
- I think Monterrey should feel good, but it's a toss up between Huntington and New York as the favorite for the #2 Wildcard slot.