The Minnesota Twins became the final team to be eliminated from postseason contention when they lost a one-game playoff to the Chicago White Sox, 1-0, in Chicago.

The Chicago White Sox won the AL Central and the final playoff spot with a 1-0 win at home against the Minnesota Twins.

Tonight, at 4:37 pm PT, weather permitting, the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox will play what should be the last regular season game of the 2008 season. Both teams finished 162 games with a record of 88-74.

This will be the 12th tiebreaker in the history of the majors.

• 1946 - The Dodgers and Cardinals were tied with two games left in the season. They both won on the last Saturday of the season and then both won on the final Sunday to force the first tiebreaker playoff. The Cardinals won 2 games to none.
• 1948 - Cleveland led both the Yankees and Red Sox by one game with two to play. On the final Saturday (October 2), the Red Sox beat the Yankees 5-1 to eliminated New York as Cleveland won. Boston forced a tie on the final Sunday with a 10-5 win over the Yankees and Cleveland lost to Detroit 7-1. Cleveland won the one game playoff at Fenway, 8-3.
• 1951 - Branca pitched to one batter in the 9th
• 1959 - In a weird and wild pennant race, the Dodgers and Braves both passed up the Giants in the final week. The Braves caught the Dodgers on the final Saturday (September 26), and both teams won on Sunday, with the Dodgers beating the Cubs 7-1 at Wrigley and the Braves beat the Phillies, 5-2 in Milwaukee. The Dodgers won the playoff in two games.
• 1962 - The Dodgers led the Giants by 1 1/2 games with two to play. The Dodgers lose both games (to the Cardinals) while the Giants won three games, including a doubleheader sweep, against Houston. Giants win the playoff in three games. Three very, very, very trying games.
• 1978 - HR: Dent (5,7th inning off Torrez 2 on 2 out);
• 1980 - The Dodgers come into the final weekend down three games to Houston with three to play against the Astros at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers win all three in dramatic fashion. And then lose the tiebreaker on Monday in incredibly undramatic fashion.
• 1995 - The Mariners lead the Angels by two games with two left and lose both to Texas while the Angels win two against Oakland. The tiebreaker is ... not exciting.
• 1998 - The Cubs and Giants are tied on the final day. The Cubs lose in Houston, 4-3, in 11 innings. The Giants blow a chance at a playoff spot when Robb Nen gives up a game-ending home run to Neifi Perez at Coors Field. The Rockies win 9-8. The next day, the Cubs survive a 3-run ninth by the Giants in a 5-3 victory.
• 1999 - On the final day, the Astros lead the Reds by one game in the Central. The Reds are tied with the Mets for the wild card. Houston beats the Dodgers 9-1 to win the Central. The Mets beat the Pirates 2-1 on a game-ending wild pitch by Brad Clontz. The Reds wait out a lengthy rain delay in Milwaukee to win 7-1. Al Leiter of the Mets throws a 2-hitter against the Reds at Cinergy Field in a 5-0 win.
• 2007 - The Rockies are in first place for only one day, April 6. They don't move into a tie for playoff position until the last day of the season, September 30, when they catch the Padres. The Rockies outlast the Padres, 9-8, in 13 innings at Coors Field. The Rockies use 10 pitchers in the game, with Ramon Ortiz getting the win, the only win he ever had as a Rockie.

The Chicago White Sox forced a single game tiebreaker with the Minnesota Twins Tuesday night (4:37 pm PT) to decide the AL Central championship. The White Sox beat the Tigers in a makeup of a rained out game, 8-2, to force the first tiebreaker playoff in the AL since the Mariners and Angels met in 1995. The winner of tomorrow's game will face Tampa Bay in the ALDS starting on Thursday. John Danks is scheduled to start for the White Sox and Nick Blackburn will start for Minnesota.

Neither team has ever played in a tiebreaker playoff and there have been only three in the history of the AL: 1948, when Cleveland beat Boston; 1978, when the Yankees beat Boston; and 1995, when Seattle beat the team that would be called Anaheim in two years.

The Brewers are in the playoffs and the NL field is set. All that is left to decide is the AL Central. And that may take two days.

The White Sox beat Cleveland today 5-1 and a few minutes later the Twins polished off Kansas City 6-0. The Twins lead the White Sox by 1/2 game. So, the White Sox have to play their game against the Tigers that was postponed back on September 13.

That game is scheduled to start at 11:05 am PT. Freddy Garcia (1-1, 4.50) will pitch for Detroit and Gavin Floyd (16-8, 3.91) will pitch for the White Sox on three days rest.

If the White Sox win the game, there will then be a tiebreaker game played Tuesday in Chicago. That game would start at 4:37 pm PT. The Twins would start Nick Blackburn in that game. The White Sox would probably start John Danks.

The last time a rained out game had to made up after the conclusion of the regular season was back in 1981 when the Royals had to go to Cleveland on October 5, 1981 to play a doubleheader. The twinbill was necessary to see if Oakland would win both halves of the split season. The Royals won the first game 9-0 to clinch the second half title before a crowd of 3006 at Municipal Stadium. The Royals were quickly dispactched by Oakland in the Division Series.

Also, Washington will pick first in the draft next spring after losing to Philadelphia today, 8-3. The Nationals finished with a record of 59-102.

The Brewers are the first team to make the playoffs in both the AL and NL. The only other team to make postseason play in two different leagues was the Brooklyn Dodgers (then called the Bridegrooms), which won the American Association in 1889 and lost a postseason series to the NL champion New York Giants, six games to three, and then won the National League in 1890 and tied the Louisville Colonels of the NL 3-3-1.

The National League playoff matchups will be Cubs-Dodgers and Phillies-Brewers.

The Hiroshima Carp played their final regular season home game at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium. The Carp won the game, 6-3 over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, and remained tied with the Chunichi Dragons for the final playoff spot in the Central League.

Hiroshima plays its final seven games on the road, starting Monday with a single game against the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien. Then there will be three in Tokyo against the Swallows, a day off, and then three at Yokohama. Chunichi plays seven road games, one against Yakult in Tokyo and one against the Swallows in Yokohama. The Dragons also play two against the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome and three against the BayStars in Yokohama.

Hiroshima Municipal Stadium opened in 1957 for regular season play and it was built across the street from the Peace Park marking the site where the world was introduced to atomic warfare back on August 6, 1945. The park's first baseball game was an exhibition between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Kansai All-Stars on November 1, 1956. There are pictures here and here.

 

I've visited the park twice and it was the first place I ever saw a baseball game in Japan. I wrote more about it during my 2003 trip to Japan. Hiroshima Municipal was a tiny stadium which measured just 91.4 meters down each line, a little under 300 feet, and it was about 380 feet to center. However, the stadium wasn't like Coors Field as there is a lot of foul territory and the ball didn't seem to carry well.

A new stadium for the Carp will open in 2009, near the city's main train station. The stadium is supposed to be asymmetrical, which would make it unique in Japan.

Here is a map showing the current stadium, if you go north from the stadium, you should reach the train station, where the new stadium will be.

Normally, I wait until all the games are done for the day, but all of the relevant games are done, so here goes.

The Phillies are now the NL East champions. There are two playoff spots left: the NL Wild Card and the AL Central.

Magic numbers don't matter now. You just need to win and hope and wait.

In the NL Wild Card, the Mets and Milwaukee are in a tie. A flat-flooted tie at 89-72.

Tomorrow, the Mets will send Oliver Perez (10-7, 4.25) to the hill against Scott Olsen (8-11, 4.23) in the Shea Stadium regular season finale. That game is scheduled to start at 10:10 am PT.

Over in Milwaukee, the Brewers will start CC Sabathia (10-2, 1.78 ERA with the Brewers, 16-10, 2.80 overall) against Angel Guzman of the Cubs (0-0, 7.04). Originally, Carlos Zambrano was penciled in to start this game on three days rest, but Zambrano felt he would be better served for the postseason by throwing a bullpen session. That game will start at 11:05 am PT.

If the Brewers and Mets can't decide things Sunday, there will be a playoff Monday between the two teams at Shea Stadium. And then that game could be the last regular season game at Shea.

In the AL, it is, slightly more complicated. The Twins lead the White Sox by a 1/2 game. The Twins have lost two straight at home to the Royals after sweeping the White Sox to take the lead. The White Sox have lost five straight games.

The White Sox are scheduled to start their game five minutes before the Twins (11:05 am PT and 11:10 am PT respectively).

At US Cellular Field, Brian Bullington (0-1, 5.59) will start for Cleveland in place of Cliff Lee who has a stiff neck. The White Sox will counter with Mark Buehrle (14-12, 3.87), who will be on three days rest after throwing 121 pitches in a loss to the Twins.

At the Metrodome, Brandon Duckworth (3-2, 5.06) will pitch for the Royals, who are 18-7 in September. The Twins will counter with Scott Baker (10-4, 3.59).

If the Twins win and the White Sox lose, the Twins win the AL Central. Any of the other three permutations of wins and losses (both teams lose or both teams win or the White Sox win and the Twins lose) occurring means that the White Sox would have to play their Game 162 on Monday afternoon against Detroit. Gavin Floyd is the tentative starter for the White Sox in that game and Detroit would start Freddy Garcia. Then if that game is played and the result forces a tie, there would be a one-game playoff for the AL Central on Tuesday in Chicago.

The Division Series will start on Wednesday with three games, one in the AL (Boston at Los Angeles) and two in the NL (Los Angeles or New York at Chicago and Milwaukee or Los Angeles at Philadelphia). The series between Tampa Bay and either Minnesota or Chicago will start Thursday. Here is the tentative schedule. Starting times have not been set.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Washington	59	101		.369
Seattle	60	100	1/2	.373

Washington sneaked back into the top or bottom spot in the race for the worst record. The Nats will finish tomorrow afternoon against a group of Phillies reserves most likely. The Mariners play at home against Oakland. It should be scintillating!

Sunday's action is scheduled to conclude with the second game of day/night doubleheader between the Yankees and Red Sox at Fenway. But the 2008 regular season isn't going down without a fight.

Houston said good bye to any chance at the playoffs. Tampa Bay finally sewed up the AL East. The Angels clinched home field in the playoffs for all three rounds if need be. The Phillies crept within a game of the playoffs. The Brewers looked like they might get into the playoffs after all. And the AL Central race may never end.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Phillies (NL East) -  1 (Phillies win and Mets lose.)
• Twins (AL Central) - 3 (Twins and White Sox lose.)

Wild card leaders

•  Brewers - 2 (Brewers win and Mets lose.)

A Fitting Sendoff to Baseball's Worst Stadium?

The Mets will be eliminated from postseason contention with a loss at home to Florida and a win by Milwaukee at home against the Cubs.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels have clinched homefield for all rounds of the playoffs. The Angels have opted to open the playoffs on Wednesday. The AL Central champ will play at Tampa Bay on Thursday. The tentative schedule can be found here.

In the NL, the Cubs will be at home for the NLDS and they would be the home team in the NLCS. The NL East champion (Phillies or Mets) will be the #2 team.

Game to be Played if Necessary

Detroit at White Sox on September 29.

The game will be played unless the Twins win two games and the White Sox lose one OR the White Sox lose two games and the Twins win one of their remaining two games.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	59	101		.369
Washington	59	100	1/2	.371

The Mariners will clinch the worst record with their next loss or a win by Washington.

Saturday's Games of Note

Florida (Nolasco) at New York (Santana), Washington (Lannan) at Philadelphia (Moyer), Chicago (Lilly) at Milwaukee (Sheets), Kansas City (Meche) at Minnesota (Perkins), Cleveland (Jackson) at Chicago (Vazquez)

Contenders Schedules

• Chicago White Sox (3) -  2 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (2) -   2 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (2) -   2 vs Washington
• New York (2) -   2 vs Florida
• Milwaukee (2) -    2 vs Chicago

Teams Frozen In Place

• The four AL West teams are frozen in place
• Cleveland (3rd in AL Central)
• The five AL East teams are all in place
• Florida (3rd in NL East)
• Atlanta (4th in NL East)
• Washington (5th in NL East)
• Chicago (1st in NL Central)
• Milwaukee (2nd in NL Central)
• Cincinnati (5th in NL Central)
• Pittsburgh (6th in NL Central)
• All five teams in the NL West will finish in their current positions

Tiebreakers?

If needed, Minnesota would play at Chicago for the AL Central on Tuesday. In the NL, if Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and New York finish with the same record, New York would play at Philadelphia to decide the NL East and the Brewers would play at the park of the losing team. Milwaukee would play at New York in case of a tie for the NL Wild Card.

Catcher's Interference Calls of 2008

Date	Batter	Catcher	Umpire	Batter's Team	Catcher's team
April 10	Lyle Overbay	Kurt Suzuki	Tom Hallion	Toronto	Oakland
May 11	Guillermo Quiroz	Miguel Olivo	Jim Joyce	Baltimore	Kansas City
May 12	Travis Hafner	Gregg Zaun	Mike Reilly	Cleveland	Toronto
May 24	Carl Crawford	Guillermo Quiroz	Ed Hickox	Tampa Bay	Baltimore
May 29	Claudio Vargas	Russell Martin	Bill Welke	New York Mets	Los Angeles Dodgers
June 9	Carl Crawford	Jeff Mathis	Eric Cooper	Tampa Bay	Los Angeles Angels
June 28	Milton Bradley	Chris Coste	Jerry Meals	Texas	Philadelphia
July 12	Lyle Overbay	Chad Moeller	Gary Cederstrom	Toronto	New York Yankees
August 1	Lyle Overbay	Gerald Laird	Angel Campos	Toronto	Texas
August 20	Ivan Ochoa	Paul Lo Duca	Jim Joyce	San Francisco	Florida
September 4	Jeff Francouer	Luke Montz	Bob Davidson	Atlanta	Washington
September 7	David Wright	Chris Coste	Jerry Meals	New York Mets	Philadelphia
September 9	Mark Saccomanno	Ronny Paulino	Bill Welke	Houston	Pittsburgh
September 16	Brian Buscher	Victor Martinez	Sam Holbrook	Minnesota	Cleveland
September 18	Jay Payton	Gregg Zaun	Bruce Dreckman	Baltimore	Toronto
September 26	Seth McClug	Koyie Hill	Gary Darling	Milwaukee	Chicago Cubs

Seth McClung became the second pitcher this season to reach base on a catcher's interference. And Koyie Hill's error led to a 3-run inning for the Brewers that broke open a tight game, which Milwaukee won 5-1.

I'd like to thank the three people who rang the alarm. They are too numerous to name. I will just call them this: fellow travelers.

The remaining teams left to be eliminated will come from the group of Philadelphia, the Mets, Milwaukee, the White Sox, or Minnesota.

Or in this case, Washington University of St. Louis Engineering Professor David A. Peters has studied the issue scientifically and come to the conclusion that the Pete Roses and Rickey Hendersons of the world get to where they are going faster than the Ty Cobbs of the world.

"It turns out your center of gravity is where the momentum is," Peters says. "This is found half way from the tips of your fingers to the tips of your toes. In the headfirst slide, the center of gravity is lower than halfway between your feet and hands, so your feet don't get there as fast. It's faster head-first."

For a long time — until roughly the Pete Rose era of the '60s and '70s — players shunned the headfirst slide to protect their hands and faces. Spikes, evoking the Ty Cobb days, were weapons on the diamond. In the past few decades, players who prefer the head-first slide have taken to running while holding onto their batter's gloves to prevent their hands from opening up and being exposed to injury. While the percentage of players who slide one way or the other is not actually known, Peters estimates it's about 50-50.

The Chicago White Sox have four games left to play with only three days left in the regular season. A rainout against the Tigers on September 13 was only going to be made up if it had a bearing on the playoffs.

And on September 26, the White Sox trail Minnesota by 1/2 game. So it has become increasingly likely that the game will be played. The Twins magic number is four, so even if the Twins sweep Kansas City in Minneapolis, the White Sox can force the Tigers to make one more trip to Chicago on Monday.

The White Sox have now scheduled that game to be played at 12:55 pm PT.

Chicago has a magic number of five and could in theory win the division without playing this game if they can sweep the Indians in Chicago or have the Twins stumble or some combination of the two.

The Dodgers joined the playoff party, just leaving three spots unfilled: the NL East, the NL Wild Card, and the AL Central. And it may not be until Tuesday until we find out who is in all those spots.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Rays (AL East) - 1 (Rays lose and Red Sox win. Tampa Bay just needs to finish in a tie to win the AL East because of a 10-8 series edge over Boston. Tampa Bay can clinch division title with win at Detroit Friday or a loss by Boston) 
• Phillies (NL East) -  3 (Phillies idle and Mets win.)
• Twins (AL Central) - 4 (Twins beat White Sox to take over lead.)

Wild card leaders

• Mets, Brewers - 4 (Mets and Brewers win.)

Are you still here?

Houston will be eliminated Friday if they lose at home to Atlanta OR the Mets beat the Marlins at Shea OR the Brewers beat the Cubs in Milwaukee. In theory all the races could be decided by Saturday. They probably won't, but they could be.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 1. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case the two finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here. The Angels are guaranteed to start the Division Series at home. The AL East champion (Rays or Red Sox) will be at home for the first round.

In the NL, the Cubs will be at home for the NLDS and they would be the home team in the NLCS. The NL East champion (Phillies or Mets) will be the #2 team.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29.

The Cubs-Astros game will only be played if the Astros end up on Sunday 1/2 game either way of the wild card. Houston will need to win its next three games and the Mets and Brewers to BOTH lose three games in a row to make this possible. Then if the Astros beat the Cubs, there would be a three-way tie for the wild card. That wouldn't finish until Wednesday.

The White Sox would play their game if they end up on Sunday 1/2 game ahead or behind of Minnesota in the AL Central.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	58	101		.365
Washington	59	99	1 1/2	.373

The Mariners will clinch the worst record with their next loss or a win by Washington. The Mariners were aided by Washington having a game canceled Thursday night by rain. Seattle finishes with three games at home against Oakland, while Washington plays three games in Philadelphia. San Diego was knocked out of the competition with a win over the Dodgers.

Friday's Games of Note

Washington (Balester) at Philadelphia (Blanton), Florida (Volstad) at New York (Pelfrey), Chicago (Dempster) at Milwaukee (Suppan),  Atlanta (Campillo) at Houston (Moehler), New York (Aceves) at Boston (Matsuzaka), Tampa Bay (Sonnanstine) at Detroit (Verlander), Kansas City (Davies) at Minnesota (Liriano), Cleveland (Lewis) at Chicago (Danks)

Contenders Schedules

• Tampa Bay (3) -   3 at Detroit
• Boston (3) -  3 vs New York
• Chicago White Sox (4) -  3 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (3) -   3 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (3) -    3 vs Washington
• New York (3) -   3 vs Florida
• Milwaukee (3) -    3 vs Chicago
• Houston (4) - 3 vs Atlanta, 1 vs Chicago if needed

Teams Frozen In Place

• Los Angels Angels (1st in AL West)
• Seattle (4th in AL West)
• Cleveland (3rd in AL Central)
• Baltimore (5th in AL East)
• Florida (3rd in NL East)
• Atlanta (4th in NL East)
• Washington (5th in NL East)
• Chicago (1st in NL Central)
• Cincinnati (5th in NL Central)
• Pittsburgh (6th in NL Central)
• All five teams in the NL West will finish in their current positions

Tiebreakers?

If needed, Minnesota would play at Chicago for the AL Central. In the NL, the Phillies would host the Mets to decide the NL if the two teams finish with a record the same as or worse than Milwaukee. If Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and New York finish with the same record, New York would play at Philadelphia to decide the NL East and the Brewers would play at the park of the losing team.

Other ties: Milwaukee at Philadelphia, Milwaukee at Houston, Milwaukee at New York, New York at Houston. These would all be for the wild card.

How the Weather Will Be?

The Los Angeles Dodgers won their first NL West title since 2004 after the Arizona Diamondbacks lost to the Cardinals in St. Louis 12-3. The Dodgers will be the #3 seed in the NL and will open the playoffs in either Chicago, Philadelphia, or New York.

The Arizona Diamondbacks won't be defending their NL West crown as they became the 19th team to be eliminated from postseason contention after a 12-3 loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis. That was the DBacks 80th loss of the year and the first place Dodgers have 83 wins.

Nobody clinched and nobody was eliminated Wedneday night but two teams came to the brink of division titles, while the NL East, NL Wild Card, and AL Central all got very tight. And even Houston has a ray of hope.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Rays (AL East) - 1 (Rays and Red Sox win. Tampa Bay just needs to finish in a tie to win the AL East because of a 10-8 series edge over Boston. Tampa Bay can clinch division title with win at Detroit Thursday or a loss by Boston)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 1 (Dodgers win and Diamondbacks lose.)
• Phillies (NL East) -  3 (Phillies and Mets lose.)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 5 (Twins beat White Sox to close gap to 1/2 game.)

Wild card leaders

• Mets - 5 (Mets lose and Brewers win to create tie)

Heading for home?

Houston will be eliminated Wednesday if they lose at home to Cincinnati AND the Mets beat the Cubs at Shea or the Brewers beat the Pirates in Milwaukee. Arizona will be eliminated with a loss at St. Louis Thursday afternoon or if the Dodgers beat San Diego in Los Angeles in the evening.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 3. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case the two finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here. The Angels are guaranteed to start the Division Series at home. The AL East champion (Rays or Red Sox) will be at home for the first round.

In the NL, the Cubs will be at home for the NLDS and they would be the home team in the NLCS. The NL East champion (Phillies or Mets) will be the #2 team.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. The Cubs-Astros game will only be played if the Astros end up on Sunday 1/2 game either way of the wild card. Houston will need to win its next four games to make this possible. The White Sox would play their game if they end up on Sunday 1/2 game ahead or behind of Minnesota in the AL Central.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	58	100		.367
Washington	59	99	1	.373
San Diego	61	97	3	.386

Remaining games left:

• Washington (4) -   1 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego (4) -  1 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle (4) -    1 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

Seattle lost their 100th game and lowered their reverse magic number to four. Any combination of Seattle losses and Washington wins that add up to four will guarantee the Mariners the worst record.

Thursday's Games of Note

Arizona (Davis) at St. Louis (Pineiro), Chicago (Harden) at New York (Martinez), Pittsburgh (Duke) at Milwaukee (Gallardo), San Diego (Peavy) at Los Angeles (Maddux), Tampa Bay (Kazmir) at Detroit (Gallaraga), Cleveland (Sowers) at Boston (Lester), Chicago (Floyd) at Minnesota (Slowey). Philadelphia is off.

Contenders Schedules

• Tampa Bay (4) -   4 at Detroit
• Boston (4) -  1 vs Cleveland, 3 vs New York
• Chicago White Sox (5) -  1 at Minnesota, 3 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (4) -  1 vs Chicago, 3 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (3) -    3 vs Washington
• New York (4) -   1 vs Chicago, 3 vs Florida
• Milwaukee (4) -   1 vs Pittsburgh, 3 vs Chicago
• Los Angeles (4) -   1 vs San Diego, 3 at San Francisco
• Arizona (4) -   1 at St. Louis, 3 vs Colorado

Teams Frozen In Place

• Los Angels Angels (1st in AL West)
• Seattle (4th in AL West)
• Cleveland (3rd in AL Central)
• Baltimore (5th in AL East)
• Florida (3rd in NL East)
• Atlanta (4th in NL East)
• Washington (5th in NL East)
• Chicago (1st in NL Central)
• Cincinnati (5th in NL Central)
• Pittsburgh (6th in NL Central)
• San Diego (5th in NL West)

Tiebreakers?

If needed, Minnesota would play at Chicago for the AL Central. In the NL, the Phillies would host the Mets to decide the NL if the two teams finish with a record the same as or worse than Milwaukee. If Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and New York finish with the same record, New York would play at Philadelphia to decide the NL East and the Brewers would play at the park of the losing team.

Other ties: Milwaukee at Philadelphia, Milwaukee at Houston, Milwaukee at New York, New York at Houston. These would all be for the wild card.

Mickey Vernon, who played 20 seasons in the major leagues from 1939 through 1960 (missing two seasons during World War II) and won two AL batting titles, passed away Wednesday in Media, Pennyslvania at the age of 90.

Vernon won the 1946 AL batting title with a .353 average, and again in 1953 with a .337 mark. Vernon edged out Al Rosen by .001, depriving the Cleveland slugger of a Triple Crown.

Vernon played 14 seasons (including a partial season) for Washington and later served as the expansion team version of the Senators manager for their first three seasons from 1961-63.

He played in 2409 games, but none of them in the postseason. The closest he came was in 1959 with the Milwaukee Braves, but that team lost a tiebreaker playoff series to the Dodgers.

Don't throw at Benny Agbayani. Actually, this fight in a game between the Seibu Lions and the Lotte Marines was likely no worse than anything that you would see in MLB. However, baseball fights are much rarer in Japan.

From the Kyodo News Service:

The Seibu Lions squandered an opportunity to clinch the Pacific League pennant for yet another day, crumbling to the Lotte Marines 9-1 Wednesday in a game marred by a judo-style fight and an ejection. Seibu's magic number to win the league title remained at one after its third straight home loss and the Orix Buffaloes' 4-1 win at the Softbank Hawks. The Lions, who hold a five-game edge over Orix, will now travel to Sapporo for a two-game series against the Nippon Ham Fighters from Friday.

Reliever Koji Mitsui struck out Tasuku Hashimoto on three pitches but then struck Julio Zuleta with his next offering to make it 5-0. Omatsu followed with a two-run single to chase Mitsui, who was replaced by Taiwanese right-hander Hsu Ming-chieh with Agbayani Hsu struck Agbayani with a belt-high inside pitch on a 1-1 count and seconds later the left fielder locked his right arm around the neck of Toru Hosokawa, who apparently tried to stop him rushing toward Hsu, and rolled the Seibu catcher down to the dirt.

After a brief brawl, Agbayani was ejected while Hosokawa left the game and received treatment for bruises. Seibu matched a Japanese baseball record for hitting three batters with pitches in an inning.

In other news from Japan, both Yomiuri and Hanshin have clinched playoff berths in the Central league and they have identical 78-53-2 records with 9 games left. Defending champion Chunichi leads Hiroshima by a 1/2 game (65-65-5 to 64-65-5).

In the Pacific League, only Seibu has clinched a spot and they have a magic number of one to clinch first place. Orix is in second at five games out and with 5 games to play has a 2 1/2 game lead on Nippon Ham and Lotte, who are tied for third.

From the AP story about Colorado's 9-4 win over San Francisco:

Rich Aurilia was originally charged with a two-run error on Tulowitzki’s grounder in the fourth. The official scorer changed the decision after consulting with Giants’ players following the game.

The Giants announced they were appealing the change.

At the time, the Giants didn't realize that Tim Lincecum would give up so many runs and finish the game behind Johan Santana in the NL ERA race (2.64 to 2.66).

The Tampa Bay Rays announced that the first two ALDS games at Tropicana Field (either Games 1 and 2 or possibly 3 and 4) have sold out.

Be prepared for lots of cow bell. Lots and lots of cow bell.

The Rays magic number to win the AL East is 2. If the Rays win the division, they will face either Chicago or Minnesota in the ALDS.

Noted on BTF.

Boston clinched a playoff spot Tuesday and the White Sox and Twins are the only teams in the AL still fighting for a spot. The Yankees, Cardinals, and Marlins all walked into the light.

The Rays edged closer to the AL East title and the NL East and Wild Card are shaping up to be entertaining races. The Twins will need to win the next two against the White Sox to make the AL Central truly entertaining.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Rays (AL East) - 2 (Rays win twice and Red Sox win. Tampa Bay just needs to finish in a tie to win the AL East because of a 10-8 series edge over Boston.)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 3 (Dodgers win and Diamondbacks lose)
• Phillies (NL East) -  4 (Phillies lose and Mets win. The Phillies magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 3)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 5 (Twins beat White Sox)

Wild card leaders

• Mets - 5 (Mets win and Brewers don't play win)

The Last Waltz?

Houston will be eliminated if they lose at home to Cincinnati and the Mets beat the Cubs at Shea.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 4. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case the two finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here. The Angels are guaranteed to start the Division Series at home. The AL East champion (Rays or Red Sox) will be at home for the first round.

In the NL, the Cubs will be at home for the NLDS and they would be the home team in the NLCS. The NL East champion (Phillies or Mets) will be the #2 team.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. The Cubs-Astros game will only be played if the Astros finish the season 1/2 game either way of the wild card. Houston will need to win its next five games to make this possible. The White Sox would play their game if they finish the season 1/2 game either way of Minnesota in the AL Central.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	58	99		.369
Washington	59	98	1	.376
San Diego	61	96	4	.389

Remaining games left:

• Washington (5) -   2 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego (5) -  2 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle (5) -    2 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

The Mariners ended their 12-game losing streak Tuesday night, but the Nationals couldn't take advantage as they beat Florida. San Diego got back into the race with a loss in L.A.

Wednesday's Games of Note

Atlanta (Reyes) at Philadelphia (Myers), Chicago (Zambrano) at New York (Perez), Pittsburgh (Maholm) at Milwaukee (Sabathia), Arizona (Scherzer) at St. Louis (Wainwright), San Diego (Estes) at Los Angeles (Kershaw), Tampa Bay (Jackson) at Baltimore (Liz), Cleveland (Carmona) at Boston (Byrd), Chicago (Buehrle) at Minnesota (Blackburn)

Contenders Schedules

• Tampa Bay (5) -  1 at Baltimore, 4 at Detroit
• Boston (5) -  2 vs Cleveland, 3 vs New York
• Chicago White Sox (6) -  2 at Minnesota, 3 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (5) -  2 vs Chicago, 3 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (4) -   1 vs Atlanta, 3 vs Washington
• New York (5) -   2 vs Chicago, 3 vs Florida
• Milwaukee (5) -   2 vs Pittsburgh, 3 vs Chicago
• Los Angeles (5) -   2 vs San Diego, 3 at San Francisco
• Arizona (5) -   2 at St. Louis, 3 vs Colorado

Teams Frozen In Place

• Los Angels Angels (1st in AL West)
• Seattle (4th in AL West)
• Cleveland (3rd in AL Central)
• Baltimore (5th in AL East)
• Florida (3rd in NL East)
• Atlanta (4th in NL East)
• Washington (5th in NL East)
• Chicago (1st in NL Central)
• Cincinnati (5th in NL Central)
• Pittsburgh (6th in NL Central)
• San Diego (5th in NL West)

According to Joe Strauss' report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter may have a career-ending nerve condition.

A magnetic resonance imaging performed after Carpenter’s abortive August start found no structural damage in either Carpenter’s surgically repaired shoulder or elbow. Persistent weakness led team medical supervisor Dr. George Paletta last week to order an additional MRI of Carpenter’ neck. The imaging found damage to at least five nerves, according to a source familiar with the findings.

Carpenter has experienced tingling in the pinkie and ring finger on his right hand while also experiencing symptoms typically associated with carpal tunnel syndrome, according to a source.

At times, the 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner has been unable to fully extend all the fingers on his pitching hand.

Neurologists have concentrated their focus on the brachial plexus, a bundle or "superhighway" of nerves running from the spine to the neck and beneath the collarbone. The brachial plexus is responsible for firing most of the muscles in the upper arm.

The Florida Marlins became the 18th team eliminated from postseason contention after a 9-4 loss to Washington combined with the Mets 6-2 win over the Cubs earlier in the evening.

The St. Louis Cardinals became the 17th team to be eliminated from postseason contention after the Mets beat Chicago at home 6-2.

The Boston Red Sox will have a chance to defend their World Series title after clinching a playoff spot with a 5-4 win over Cleveland at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox have not won consecutive World Series since 1915-16 when they beat the Phillies and Dodgers respectively.

The New York Yankees will miss the postseason for the first time since 1994 after the Boston Red Sox eliminated them from the postseason with a 5-4 win over Cleveland.

The Yankees were the 16th team to be eliminated from postseason contention this year.

Oh Fred Merkle.

I feel for you.

Sadaharu Oh, who hit a record 868 home runs in a 22-year career in Japan, will step down as manager of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks at the end of the season, ending his association with pro baseball in Japan that started back in 1959.

Two years ago, Oh had his stomach removed in a cancer operation. Oh has had some complications from that operation this year and he feels that he no longer has the energy to continue as manager.

Oh started his pro career with the Yomiuri Giants back in 1959 and along with Shigeo Nagashima, he keyed the Giants unmatched run of nine consecutive Japan Series championships from 1965 through 1973.

As a manager, Oh led the Hawks to two Japan Series championships and he also managed Japan to victory in the first World Baseball Classic back in 2006.

Here is a clip of some of Oh's milestone home runs. The numbers in the upper right corner are the Japanese method of marking dates. The first number is the year of the emperor's reign, followed by the month and date. So year 1 = 1926 in this case.

The Red Sox failed to wrap up their playoff spot, so the Yankees stayed alive. And the Cardinals stayed alive because the other New York team kept stumbling.

Tuesday will be a full schedule. In fact, it will be, as they say in the airline industry, it will be "an extremely full" schedule since the Rays will be playing a doubleheader in Baltimore.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Rays (AL East) - 4 (Rays win and Red Sox lose. Tampa Bay just needs to finish in a tie to win the AL East because of a 10-8 series edge over Boston.)
• Phillies (NL East) -  4 (Phillies win and Mets lose. The Phillies magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 3)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 5 (Dodgers idle and Diamondbacks win)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 5 (White Sox and Twins idle. They start three game series in Minneapolis Tuesday.)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 1 (Red Sox lose and Yankees don't play)
• Mets - 6 (Mets lose and Brewers don't play)

Slouching toward Bethlehem?

The Yankees will be eliminated Tuesay if Boston wins at home against Cleveland or if the Yankees lose at Toronto. St. Louis will be eliminated if they lose at home to Arizona or the Mets beat the Cubs at Shea Stadium. Florida will be eliminated if they lose at Washington and the Mets win.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 4. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case the two finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here. The Angels are guaranteed to start the Division Series at home.

In the NL, the Cubs will be at home for the NLDS and they would be the home team in the NLCS.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. The Cubs-Astros game will only be played if the Astros finish the season 1/2 game either way of the wild card. The White Sox would play their game if they finish the season 1/2 game either way of Minnesota in the AL Central.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	57	99		.365
Washington	58	98	1	.370
San Diego	61	95	4	.391

Remaining games left:

• Washington (6) -   3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego (6) -  3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle (6) -    3 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

The NL teams were off, but the Mariners played and lost their 12th straight game. Washington has the toughest schedule. Seattle however has the advantage of being really bad.

Tuesday's Games of Note

Atlanta (Hampton) at Philadelphia (Hamels), Chicago (Marshall) at New York (Santana), Pittsburgh (Karstens) at Milwaukee (Bush), Arizona (Johnson) at St. Louis (Lohse), San Diego (LeBlanc) at Los Angeles (Billingsley), Tampa Bay (Shields, Talbot) at Baltimore (Olson, Simon), Cleveland (Lee) at Boston (Wakefield), New York (Mussina) at Toronto (Litsch), Chicago (Vazquez) at Minnesota (Baker)

Contenders Schedules

• Tampa Bay (7) -  3 at Baltimore (includes doubleheader Tuesday), 4 at Detroit
• Boston (6) -  3 vs Cleveland, 3 vs New York
• New York (6) -  3 at Toronto, 3 at Boston
• Chicago White Sox (7) -  3 at Minnesota, 3 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (6) -  3 vs Chicago, 3 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (5) -   2 vs Atlanta, 3 vs Washington
• New York (6) -   3 vs Chicago, 3 vs Florida
• Milwaukee (6) -   3 vs Pittsburgh, 3 vs Chicago
• Los Angeles (6) -   3 vs San Diego, 3 at San Francisco
• Arizona (6) -   3 at St. Louis, 3 vs Colorado

Teams Frozen In Place

• Los Angels Angels (1st in AL West)
• Seattle (4th in AL West)
• Baltimore (5th in AL East)
• Atlanta (4th in NL East)
• Washington (5th in NL East)
• Chicago (1st in NL Central)
• Cincinnati (5th in NL Central)
• Pittsburgh (6th in NL Central)
• San Diego (5th in NL West)

There will definitely be one game this year that won't be played.

The rained out game between Oakland and Baltimore from September 6 has been canceled.

The Orioles have already clinched the Baltimore/DC Metro Area championship and Oakland seems to be on its way to winning the Bay Area championship.

There will be prizes award to the teams, but executives from each team have to come to my place to pick them up.

Au revoir, Toronto. You gave it a go, but ultimately the Rays and Red Sox were too much for you. The Yankees win in the House That Ruth Built and The City of New York Subsequently Rebuilt's Valedictory kept the Red Sox from clinching a spot and the Yankees from becoming the sixteenth team eliminated.

Monday will be a limited schedule in the majors, but it will see a  (borrowing from Vin Scully) shirttail tucked in. The 1/2 game differences in the NL West will be eliminated when the Dodgers idle at home while second place Arizona travels to the Mound City to take on the Cardinals. The AL East shirttail gets tucked in on Tuesday when the Rays play a doubleheader. The NL East shirttail gets the tucking treatment when the Mets play the Cubs and the Phillies are off. The AL Central and NL Central shirttails will only be tucked in if necessary.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Dodgers (NL West) - 5 (Dodgers lose and Diamondbacks win)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 5 (White Sox and Twins win)
• Rays (AL East) - 6 (Rays lose and Red Sox win. Tampa Bay just needs to finish in a tie to win the AL East because of a 10-8 series edge over Boston.)
• Phillies (NL East) -  6 (Phillies win and Mets lose)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 1 (Red Sox win and Yankees win)
• Mets - 6 (Mets lose and Brewers win)

Getting ready to check out

The Yankees will be eliminated Monday if Boston wins at home against Cleveland. St. Louis will be eliminated if they lose at home to Arizona and the Mets beat the Cubs at Shea.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 5. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case the two finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here. The Angels are guaranteed to start the Division Series at home.

In the NL, the Cubs are guaranteed to start the Division Series at home and their magic number to clinch homefield for the LCS is 1 over the Phillies. The Cubs lost the season series to the Phillies 3-4.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. Oakland and Baltimore also could make up a game on September 25. These are looking less and less necessary, although the Twins could send the White Sox season into an extra day if they can sweep Chicago in a 3-game set in Minneapolis starting Tuesday night.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	57	98		.367
Washington	58	98	1/2	.370
San Diego	61	95	3 1/2	.391

Remaining games left:

• Washington (6) -   3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego (6) -  3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle (7) -    4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

San Diego swept its three-game series in Washington to put themselves in a situation where they almost have to lose out to have a chance at the worst. The Mariners have lost 11 straight games. The Nats have the misfortune of playing teams that can't afford to lose, although it's possible the Phillies may have clinched a playoff spot by the final series.

Monday's Games of Note

Atlanta (Jurrjens) at Philadelphia (Happ), Chicago (Marquis) at New York (Niese), Arizona (Webb) at St. Louis (Wellemeyer), Tampa Bay (Price) at Baltimore (Bass), Cleveland (Jackson) at Boston (Beckett). Kansas City is playing at Detroit and I'm game to watch it if there's nothing else on.

Contenders Schedules

• Tampa Bay (8) -  4 at Baltimore (includes doubleheader Tuesday), 4 at Detroit
• Boston (7) -  4 vs Cleveland, 3 vs New York
• New York (6) -  3 at Toronto, 3 at Boston
• Chicago White Sox (7) -  3 at Minnesota, 3 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (6) -  3 vs Chicago, 3 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (6) -   3 vs Atlanta, 3 vs Washington
• New York (7) -   4 vs Chicago, 3 vs Florida
• Milwaukee (6) -   3 vs Pittsburgh, 3 vs Chicago
• Los Angeles (6) -   3 vs San Diego, 3 at San Francisco
• Arizona (7) -   4 at St. Louis, 3 vs Colorado

Teams Frozen In Place

• Los Angels Angels (1st in AL West)
• Seattle (4th in AL West)
• Baltimore (5th in AL East)
• Atlanta (4th in NL East)
• Washington (5th in NL East)
• Chicago (1st in NL Central)
• Cincinnati (4th in NL Central)
• Pittsburgh (5th in NL Central)
• San Diego (5th in NL West)

The Toronto Blue Jays became the fifteenth team to be eliminated from postseason contention after being shut out at home by Boston 3-0. The AL wild card team now will be one of three teams: Tampa Bay, Boston, or New York.

I sense the Yankees running the table and waiting for that Game 1 ALDS matchup between John Lackey and Sidney Ponson.

MLB.com's Matthew Leach recounts the wild and wooly journey of Cesar Izturis on Monday, an off day for the Cardinals.

Izturis had an appointment regarding his residency in New York on Monday, the Cardinals' off-day between series in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. In what seemed like a routine travel plan, he was to fly from Pittsburgh to New York on Sunday, then from New York to Cincinnati on Monday.

Then the remnants of Hurricane Ike intervened.

Izturis' flight out of Pittsburgh was canceled on Sunday night, and he couldn't find a way to get to New York. Ultimately, he reached a deal with a taxi driver to take him the entire way to New York, a trip of approximately 10 hours.

Yet even that didn't go as planned. About halfway through the trip, Izturis noticed that the driver was nodding off. He got the driver to pull over, then took over himself for the last few hours.

My question is: did Cesar Izturis still pay the cab driver the full amount? Is it legal to drive a taxi you hired?

The Korean comedy/reality show "One Night, Two Days" (a show I'm still trying to figure what it's about, but I believe it has five celebrities who have to go on a trip of that length somewhere in Korea) ran afoul of baseball fans in Busan, according to a Korea Times report.

The ``One night-two days'' crew from the Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) visited a Lotte Giants-Doosan Bears game, a duel for No. 2 spot, at Sajik Stadium in Busan Friday, and its cast performed during cleaning time, which usually takes about two or three minutes after the fifth inning.

However, the performance lasted 10 minutes and players who usually warm up during the short span had to stay in the dugouts.

After that, the game continued, but the longer break affected starters, who had thrown to a scoreless tie over five innings.

Giants starter Song Seung-jun allowed three runs in the top of the sixth, and Bears' Kim Sun-woo struggled with his command.

A few more problems were also caused during the night.

The program said it had booked 50 seats in the first base stand for the game, which hit its 18th sold-out game this season, but in fact, they took about 80-90 seats, most of which remained empty during the shooting.

While filming, the staff blocked aisles around the stand, causing disruption to others.

In addition, they deployed cameras on the ground and shot the dugouts during the game.

And to top it off, Ronan Tynan came on and sang "God Bless America!"

The Cubs and Rays both clinched playoff berths Saturday and both got do it at home by winning games. However, no team was eliminated because of the wild card. The Blue Jays and Yankees are still on shaky ground.

The Red Sox are the only team that can clinch a playoff spot on Sunday and that will require a win over Toronto and the Yankees losing what would be final home game at Yankee Stadium to Baltimore.

The Mets latest stay in first in the NL East lasted all of one day. The Phillies reclaimed the lead by a 1/2 game. That fraction will disappear Monday when the Mets host the Cubs while the Phillies have the day off.

The Dodgers lead Arizona by 3 1/2 games and that fraction will disappear on Monday as well when the Dodgers are off and the Diamondbacks play in St. Louis.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Dodgers (NL West) - 5 (Dodgers and Diamondbacks win)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 6 (White Sox and Twins lose)
• Rays (AL East) - 6 (Rays win and Red Sox lose. Tampa Bay just needs to finish in a tie to win the AL East because of a 10-8 series edge over Boston.)
• Phillies (NL East) -  8 (Mets lose and Phillies win to switch places)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 2 (Red Sox win and Yankees win)
• Mets - 6 (Mets lose, Phillies win, and Brewers lose)

This blue jay is just resting

Toronto can be eliminated Sunday. But that can only happen if the Blue Jays lose at home to Boston. The Yankees can be eliminated if they lose at home to Baltimore AND the Red Sox win.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 7. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case the two finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here. The Angels are guaranteed to start the Division Series at home.

In the NL, the Cubs are guaranteed to start the Division Series at home and their magic number to clinch homefield for the LCS is 2 over the Mets and Phillies. The Cubs lost the season series to the Phillies 3-4 and lead the series against the Mets 2-0, but have four games in New York still to play.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. Oakland and Baltimore also could make up a game on September 25. These are looking less and less necessary.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	57	97		.370
Washington	58	97	1/2	.373
San Diego	60	95	1 1/2	.385

Remaining games left:

• Washington (7) -  1 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego (7) -   1 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle (8) -   1 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

The Padres may be playing themselves out of last place in the majors after a 6-1 win at Washington. The Mariners are undaunted and have lost 10 straight games.

Sunday's Games of Note

Milwaukee (McClung) at Cincinnati (Arroyo), Philadelphia (Moyer) at Florida (Volstad), New York (Pelfrey) at Atlanta (Parr), Arizona (Haren) at Colorado (Reynolds), San Francisco (Cain) at Los Angeles (Lowe), Baltimore (Waters) at New York (Pettitte), Boston (Matsuzaka) at Toronto (Richmond), Minnesota (Liriano) at Tampa Bay (Sonnanstine), Chicago (Danks) at Kansas City (Duckworth)

Contenders Schedules

• Tampa Bay (9) - 1 vs Minnesota, 4 at Baltimore (includes doubleheader), 4 at Detroit
• Boston (8) - 1 at Toronto, 4 vs Cleveland, 3 vs New York
• New York (7) - 1 vs Baltimore, 3 at Toronto, 3 at Boston
• Chicago White Sox (8) - 1 at Kansas City, 3 at Minnesota, 3 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (7) - 1 at Tampa Bay, 3 vs Chicago, 3 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (7) -  1 at Florida, 3 vs Atlanta, 3 vs Washington
• New York (8) -  1 at Atlanta, 4 vs Chicago, 3 vs Florida
• Milwaukee (7) -  1 at Cincinnati, 3 vs Pittsburgh, 3 vs Chicago
• Los Angeles (7) -  1 vs San Francisco, 3 vs San Diego, 3 at San Francisco
• Arizona (8) -  1 at Colorado, 4 at St. Louis, 3 vs Colorado

Teams Frozen In Place

• Los Angels Angels (1st in AL West)
• Seattle (4th in AL West)
• Baltimore (5th in AL East)
• Atlanta (4th in NL East)
• Washington (5th in NL East)
• Chicago (1st in NL Central)
• San Diego (5th in NL West)

The Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first ever playoff spot with a 7-2 win over Minnesota at home Saturday. It was the Rays' 92nd win of the season and makes it unable for the second place team in the wild card race (the Yankees) to finish with a better record.

The Chicago Cubs clinched their second straight NL Central title with a 5-4 win over the Cardinals today at Wrigley Field.

This is the first time the Cubs have made it to the postseason in consecutive seasons since 1906 through 1908.

The Lions wrapped up a spot in the Pacific League, which they lead with a 74-56-4 record, 6 games better than second place Orix (70-64-1), and 9 games better than third place Lotte (67-67-1). Fourth place Nippon Ham is (66-68-2) The top three teams make the playoffs. The season is 144 games long and ties are not replayed, so Seibu cannot finish with a worse record than Nippon Ham.

In the Central League, the Hanshin Tigers' once double digit games lead has been cut to one as the Yomiuri Giants have won nine straight to pull within one game (76-52-1 to 75-53-2). Both teams should wrap up playoff spots soon. The Hiroshima Carp are surprisingly in the three slot with a record 64-62-4, two games up the defending champion Chunichi Dragons at 62-64-5.

Both leagues playoffs start with the #2 and #3 teams playing a best of three series. The winner of that series plays the #1 team in a best of five series. The winners of each league face off in the Japan Series, a best of seven series, that will start on November 1, in the Central League champions home park.

Cleveland exited the scene even though they won their fourth straight game as the White Sox administered the death blow with a win at Kansas City.

There could be a whole lot of clinching going on Saturday. The Cubs will clinch the NL Central with either a win at home against St. Louis or a Milwaukee loss in Cincinnati. Those games will be played at the same time.

In the AL, Tampa Bay's magic number for clinching a playoff spot is 1. The Rays will clinch a spot with a win over Minnesota. If the Rays lose, they can still clinch a playoff spot if the White Sox (at KC) and Yankees (at home against Baltimore) both lose.

Boston can clinch a playoff spot with a win at Toronto and losses by ew York AND either Minnesota or Chicago.

And the Mets have reclaimed the lead in the NL East over the Phillies, although the stumbling Brewers are making that race a bit less intense. The Marlins have won 9 straight games but are still 4 1/2 out of the wild card, tied with Houston.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 1 (Cubs and Brewers both lose)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 6 (Dodgers and Diamondbacks lose)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 7 (White Sox win and Twins lose)
• Rays (AL East) - 9 (Rays and Red Sox win. Rays magic number to clinch playoff spot is 1. If the Rays clinch a spot this weekend, then the magic number to win the division will drop one more as the Rays own a tiebreaker edge for the division over Boston with a 10-8 season series edge.)
• Mets (NL East) -  9 (Mets win and Phillies lose to switch places)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 2 (Red Sox win and Twins lose. Yankees now join equation.)
• Phillies - 7 (Mets win, Phillies lose, and Brewers lose)

Is this the end of Rico?

Toronto can be eliminated tomorrow. But that can only happen if the Blue Jays lose at home to Boston. The Yankees can be eliminated if they lose AND the Red Sox win.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 8. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case the two finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. Oakland and Baltimore also could make up a game on September 25. These are looking less and less necessary.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	57	96		.373
Washington	58	96	1/2	.375
San Diego	59	95	1 1/2	.383

Remaining games left:

• Washington (8) -  2 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego (8) -   2 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle (9) -   2 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

The big game in the titantic San Diego-Washington series at Nats Park went to the Padres, 11-6 in 14 innings. However, the Mariners doggedly refuse to win a game.

Saturday's Games of Note

Milwaukee (Sabathia) at Cincinnati (Cueto), St. Louis (Pineiro) at Chicago (Lilly), Philadelphia (Blanton) at Florida (Sanchez), New York (Martinez) at Atlanta (Campillo), Arizona (Davis) at Colorado (Cook), San Francisco (Hennessey) at Los Angeles (Kuroda), Baltimore (Burress) at New York (Aceves), Boston (Lester) at Toronto (Halladay), Minnesota (Slowey) at Tampa Bay (Kazmir), Chicago (Floyd) at Kansas City (Davies)

Contenders Schedules

• Tampa Bay (10) - 2 vs Minnesota, 4 at Baltimore (includes doubleheader), 4 at Detroit
• Boston (9) - 2 at Toronto, 4 vs Cleveland, 3 vs New York
• Chicago White Sox (9) - 2 at Kansas City, 3 at Minnesota, 3 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (8) - 2 at Tampa Bay, 3 vs Chicago, 3 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (8) -  2 at Florida, 3 vs Atlanta, 3 vs Washington
• New York (9) -  2 at Atlanta, 4 vs Chicago, 3 vs Florida
• Chicago Cubs (10) -  3 vs St. Louis, 4 at New York, 3 at Milwaukee, 1 at Houston if needed
• Milwaukee (8) -  2 at Cincinnati, 3 vs Pittsburgh, 3 vs Chicago
• Los Angeles (8) -  2 vs San Francisco, 3 vs San Diego, 3 at San Francisco
• Arizona (9) -  2 at Colorado, 4 at St. Louis, 3 vs Colorado

Teams Frozen In Place

• Los Angels Angels (1st in AL West)
• Seattle (4th in AL West)
• Baltimore (5th in AL East)
• Atlanta (4th in NL East)
• Washington (5th in NL East)
• San Diego (5th in NL West)

The Cleveland Indians became the fourteenth team to be eliminated from postseason contention after the White Sox beat Kansas City 9-4. That was the White Sox's 85th win of the season. Although Cleveland has but 77 losses, either Chicago (with 85 wins) or Minnesota (with 83 wins) has to finish with 86 wins as the two teams play each other three more times.

For the first time in major league history, a call on the field has been reversed by video replay. Carlos Pena's hit a ball over the right center field fence at Tropicana Field that was originally ruled as fan interference and a ground rule double for Pena.

Upon further review ... the umpires ruled that it was not fan interference and Pena was given a home run. This changed the score from 7-0 Rays to 9-0 Rays.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced today that the Mets reaching an agreement to have their AAA franchise in 2009 in Buffalo was a "natural marriage."

Eeewww...

 

 

The NL will have a different team in the World Series this year as the Rockies were eliminated. Cleveland continues to live on the edge. Tampa Bay can clinch its first ever playoff spot with two wins this weekend against Minnesota, but blew a chance to pick up one of them Thursday. Tampa Bay can also clinch a playoff spot with a win Friday combined with losses by the White Sox, Blue Jays, and Yankees. The Cubs can clinch the NL Central Friday with a win at home against St. Louis and a loss by Milwaukee at Cincinnati.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 2 (Cubs beat Brewers)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 7 (Dodgers and Diamondbacks win)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 9 (White Sox lose and Twins win)
• Rays (AL East) - 10 (Rays lose to Twins, Red Sox are idle. Rays magic number to clinch playoff spot is 3. If the Rays clinch a spot this weekend, then the magic number to win the division will drop one more as the Rays own a tiebreaker edge for the division over Boston with a 10-8 season series edge.)
• Phillies (NL East) -  10 (Phillies win and Mets win)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 4 (Red Sox idle and Twins win)
• Mets - 9 (Mets win and Brewers lose)

To be or not to be?

Cleveland will be eliminated with a loss to Detroit at home or a win by Chicago at Kansas City or by Minnesota at Tampa Bay. Toronto and New York cannot be eliminated until Saturday.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 9. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case they finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. Oakland and Baltimore also could make up a game on September 25.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	57	95		.375
San Diego	58	95	1/2	.379
Washington	58	95	1/2	.379

Remaining games left:

• Washington (9) -  3 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego (9) -   3 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle (10) -   3 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

Friday's Games of Note

St. Louis (Wainwright) at Chicago (Zambrano), Philadelphia (Myers) at Florida (Johnson), Milwaukee (Suppan) at Cincinnati (Ramirez), New York (Perez) at Atlanta (Reyes), Arizona (Scherzer) at Colorado (De La Rosa), San Francisco (Zito) at Los Angeles (Maddux), Boston (Byrd) at Toronto (Burnett), Minnesota (Blackburn) at Tampa Bay (Jackson), Chicago (Buehrle) at Kansas City (Bannister)

Contenders Schedules

• Tampa Bay (11) - 3 vs Minnesota, 4 at Baltimore (includes doubleheader), 4 at Detroit
• Boston (10) - 3 at Toronto, 4 vs Cleveland, 3 vs New York
• Chicago White Sox (10) - 3 at Kansas City, 3 at Minnesota, 3 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (9) - 3 at Tampa Bay, 3 vs Chicago, 3 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (9) -  3 at Florida, 3 vs Atlanta, 3 vs Washington
• New York (10) -  3 at Atlanta, 4 vs Chicago, 3 vs Florida
• Chicago Cubs (11) -  3 vs St. Louis, 4 at New York, 3 at Milwaukee, 1 at Houston if needed
• Milwaukee (9) -  3 at Cincinnati, 3 vs Pittsburgh, 3 vs Chicago
• Los Angeles (9) -  3 vs San Francisco, 3 vs San Diego, 3 at San Francisco
• Arizona (10) -  3 at Colorado, 4 at St. Louis, 3 vs Colorado

Teams Frozen In Place

• Los Angels Angels (1st in AL West)
• Seattle (4th in AL West)
• Baltimore (5th in AL East)
• San Diego (5th in NL West)

Via Maury Brown's Biz of Baseball,

The TBS play-by-play announcers will be: Chip Caray, Dick Stockton, Don Orsillo, and Brian Anderson. All but Stockton currently work for a club. Caray works for the Braves, Orsillo works for the Red Sox, and Anderson for the Brewers. Ron Darling, Buck Martinez, Tony Gwynn, Joe Simpson, John Smoltz, and Harold Reynolds will serve as analysts. How everyone will be paired up is to be decided, but Caray, Darling, and Martinez will be the ALCS crew, so they will likely be together for a Division Series.

San Francisco finally gave up the ghost Wednesday, but Cleveland refused to die as did Colorado. Toronto and the Yankees are now "Prognosis Negative." And the Cubs and Dodgers stalled on their drives to get into the playoffs. Tampa Bay can clinch its first ever playoff spot with two wins this weekend against Minnesota.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 4 (Cubs lose to Brewers)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 8 (Dodgers lose and Diamondbacks win)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 9 (White Sox and Twins lose)
• Rays (AL East) - 10 (Rays beat Red Sox. Rays magic number to clinch playoff spot is 3. If the Rays clinch a spot this weekend, then the magic number to win the division will drop one more as the Rays own a tiebreaker edge for the division over Boston with a 10-8 season series edge.)
• Phillies (NL East) -  11 (Phillies win and Mets win)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 4 (Red Sox and Twins lose)
• Mets - 11 (Mets and Brewers win)

Death or Glory? Bet on death

Colorado will be eliminated if the Dodgers win in Pittsburgh Thursday afternoon. The Rockies are off. Cleveland would have been eliminated if it lost any of its three games to Minnesota. Cleveland can be eliminated Thursday ONLY if BOTH Chicago and Minnesota win. Toronto and the Yankees will live until Friday since Boston is off Thursday.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 11. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case they finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. Oakland and Baltimore also could make up a game on September 25.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	57	94		.377
San Diego	58	95	1	.379
Washington	58	94	1/2	.382

Remaining games left:

• Washington (10) -  1 vs New York, 3 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego (9) -   3 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle (11) -  1 at Kansas City, 3 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

Thursday's Games of Note

Los Angeles (Kershaw) at Pittsburgh (Maholm), Milwaukee (Bush) at Chicago (Harden), New York (Santana) at Washington (Redding), San Francisco (Lincecum) at Arizona (Johnson), Chicago (Vazquez) at New York (Mussina), Minnesota (Perkins) at Tampa Bay (Shields)

Contenders Schedules

• Tampa Bay (12) - 4 vs Minnesota, 4 at Baltimore (includes doubleheader), 4 at Detroit
• Boston (10) - 3 at Toronto, 4 vs Cleveland, 3 vs New York
• Chicago White Sox (10) - 3 at Kansas City, 3 at Minnesota, 3 vs Cleveland, 1 vs Detroit if needed
• Minnesota (10) - 4 at Tampa Bay, 3 vs Chicago, 3 vs Kansas City
• Philadelphia (10) - 1 at Atlanta, 3 at Florida, 3 vs Atlanta, 3 vs Washington
• New York (11) - 1 at Washington, 3 at Atlanta, 4 vs Chicago, 3 vs Florida
• Chicago Cubs (12) - 1 vs Milwaukee, 3 vs St. Louis, 4 at New York, 3 at Milwaukee, 1 at Houston if needed
• Milwaukee (10) - 1 at Chicago, 3 at Cincinnati, 3 vs Pittsburgh, 3 vs Chicago
• Los Angeles (10) - 1 at Pittsburgh, 3 vs San Francisco, 3 vs San Diego, 3 at San Francisco
• Arizona (11) - 1 vs San Francisco, 3 at Colorado, 4 at St. Louis, 3 vs Colorado

How Times Change in Three Days

On Monday, Boston beat Tampa Bay 13-5 to move within .002 of first place. Jayson Stark offered this gloomy portrayal of how the Rays chances of winning the AL East were doomed.

On Tuesday, the Rays edged the Red Sox 2-1. And Stark now goes on and on about the magical season that the Rays are having.

On Wednesday, the Rays won 10-3. Stark wrote of how the Rays had taken control of the division. Although they had very little chance to win the division two days earlier.

Teams Frozen In Place

• Los Angels Angels (1st in AL West)
• Seattle (4th in AL West)
• Baltimore (5th in AL East)
• San Diego (5th in NL West)

The San Francisco Giants became the 12th team to be eliminated from postseason contention after losing at Arizona 7-6. That was the Giants 84th loss and makes it impossible for them to catch first place Los Angeles which has 79 wins.

And he's reporting on the state of Cuban baseball, as well as other sports there in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Plaza de Armas is a block from Havana Bay and across the street from the fort that once guarded the city. It's Havana's oldest square — dating to 1520 — and is surrounded by used book sellers. It's here a man who identifies himself as Luis deals in baseball memorabilia.

He has a small suitcase filled with old sports photos, no doubt once the archives of a local newspaper, old game programs (including one from the '46 World Series) and in a cloth bag, old baseball cards in plastic cases. He's got a couple of Sandy Koufax rookie cards, a Hank Aaron rookie card, Harmon Killebrew, Ted Williams. How much for one of the Koufax cards? He says 150 Cuban convertible pesos, which is about $180.

Luis loves baseball. He is a rare Cuban who has a satellite dish, and so is able to watch American baseball games. That makes him very familiar with what is going on. Albert Pujols? "He is the best," Luis says. "Pujols is crazy."

Luis is wearing a T-shirt that says "Baseball is Life, The Rest is Just Details." He is a Cuban, and baseball is his sport, his life.

"The Cuban people, everybody has a bat," Luis says. "They play from when they're very young." He knows that times are changing. "The good players, they go to America," he says. "Cuban baseball is a little down. The stars here have hope no more. It's a problem for all sports."

No one was eliminated as the Indians pulled out a 12-9 win over the stumbling Twins in 11 innings. The Mets don't lead the NL East anymore, but they do lead the wild card. That news is not good for the Brewers. And there's a new leader for the #30 spot in the majors.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 4 (Cubs beat Brewers and clinch with wins Wednesday and Thursday)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 8 (Dodgers and Diamondbacks win)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 10 (White Sox win and Twins lose)
• Phillies (NL East) -  12 (Phillies win and Mets lose)
• Rays (AL East) - 12 (Rays beat Red Sox and play each other for final time Wednesday. Rays magic number to clinch playoff spot is 6)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 5 (Red Sox lose and Twins lose)
• Mets - 12 (Phillies win, Brewers lose, but Mets win to sneak in to wild card.)

It's a long drive, I do believe ... That these teams aren't going anywhere

Cleveland will be eliminated with a loss to Minnesota, although they do have Cliff Lee pitching. Colorado and San Francisco would both be eliminated if the Dodgers beat Pittsburgh. Either team would also be eliminated with a loss. The Rockies play a day game against the Padres. The Blue Jays and Yankees could be eliminated in two days.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 11. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case they finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. Oakland and Baltimore also could make up a game on September 25.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB	PCT
Seattle	57	93		.380
San Diego	58	94	1	.383
Washington	58	93	1/2	.384

Remaining games left:

• Washington (11) -  2 vs New York, 3 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego (10) -  1 at Colorado, 3 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle (12) -  2 at Kansas City, 3 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

Wednesday's Games of Note

Los Angeles (Billingsley) at Pittsburgh (Duke), Houston (Backe) at Florida (Nolasco), New York (Knight) at Washington (Martis), Philadelphia (Happ) at Atlanta (Jurrjens), Milwaukee (Sheets) at Chicago (Marquis), San Francisco (Sanchez) at Arizona (Webb), Minnesota (Baker) at Cleveland (Lee), Chicago (Richard) at New York (Hughes), Boston (Wakefield) at Tampa Bay (Garza)

Cleveland has decided to mix and match two of their best pitchers from this season in one signing.

The Indians announced the signing of 23-year old Taiwanese righthander Chen-Chang Lee. This allows the Indians to have both a CC and a Lee in the organization.

Buy your 2009 World Series tickets now.

The Screening Committee for the Veterans Commitee of the Baseball Hall of Fame has come out with 21 10 candidates whose careers started after 1943 and will be considered for induction when the Committee meets on December 7, with the results announced the next day.

They are: Dick Allen, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Al Oliver, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant, Joe Torre, and Maury Wills.

Officially, Hodges and Torre are supposed to be considered as players only, not managers. That doesn't mean the voters won't take into consideration Torre and Hodges managing. The arcane rules are here.

Earlier 10 candidates whose careers started before 1943 were also chosen: Bill Dahlen, Wes Ferrell, Joe Gordon, Sherry Magee, Carl Mays, Allie Reynolds, Vern Stephens, Mickey Vernon, Bucky Walters and Deacon White.

To be inducted, a candidate needs to receive 75% of the vote of the Veterans Committee, which consists of 12 people. In other words, nine votes. The Veterans Committee consists of Bobby Doerr, Ralph Kiner, Phil Niekro, Robin Roberts, Duke Snider, Don Sutton, Dick Williams, Furman Bisher, Roland Hemond, Steve Hirdt, Bill Madden, and Claire Smith.

The Tigers bid us adieu tonight and now half of the 22 teams that will see their seasons not extend into October are known. The Angels are still the only team with a postseason berth in hand.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 6 (Cubs win and Brewers are idle)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 9 (Dodgers and Diamondbacks win)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 12 (White Sox lose and Twins lose)
• Mets (NL East) -  13 (Mets lose and Phillies are idle)
• Rays, Red Sox (AL East) - 14 (Rays lose and Red Sox win. Rays lead division by .002)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox, Rays - 6 (Boston), 7 (Tampa Bay) (Red Sox win and Twins lose)
• Brewers, Phillies - 13 (Brewers and Phillies were both idle. If the Phillies and Mets tie for the NL East and both would make the playoffs, the Mets would win the division and the Phillies would be the wild card.)

Getting ready to call it a season

Cleveland will be eliminated with a loss to Minnesota. Colorado will be eliminated if the Dodgers beat Pittsburgh and the Rockies lose to San Diego.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 11. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case they finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2. The tentative schedule can be found here.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29. Oakland and Baltimore also could make up a game on September 25.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB
Washington	57	93
San Diego	58	93	1/2
Seattle	57	92	1/2

Remaining games left:

• Washington -  3 vs New York, 3 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego -  2 at Colorado, 3 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle -  3 at Kansas City, 3 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

Tuesday's Games of Note

Los Angeles (Lowe) at Pittsburgh (Karstens), Houston (Oswalt) at Florida (Volstad), New York (Pelfrey) at Washington (Perez), Philadelphia (Moyer) at Atlanta (Parr), Milwaukee (Sabathia) at Chicago (Dempster), San Francisco (Cain) at Arizona (Haren), Minnesota (Liriano) at Cleveland (Jackson), Chicago (Floyd) at New York (Pettitte), Boston (Beckett) at Tampa Bay (Sonnanstine)

The Detroit Tigers became the 11th team to be eliminated from postseason contention after an 11-8 to the Texas Rangers in Arlington. It was the Tigers 79th loss of the season. First place Chicago (a 4-2 loser to the Yankees) has 83 wins and second place Minnesota (a 3-1 loser to Cleveland) has 82 wins. The White Sox and Twins still play each other in three games this year, so one of them has to win at least 84 games.

After Carlos Zambrano's no-hitter Monday, Ted Lilly, along with Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry, pitched a one-hitter.

As I was looking for any similar feat, I did come across this stretch of three games the Mets had in 2003.

• June 15, 2003 - Steve Trachsel throws a one-hitter against the Angels in Anaheim, surrendering only a sixth inning single to David Eckstein.
• June 16, 2003 - The Mets then travel cross country to Florida and play the Marlins in Miami. Dontrelle Willis throws a one-hitter, giving up just a fourth inning single to Ty Wigginton,
• June 17, 2003 - Jae Seo, David Weathers, and Armando Benitez of the Mets combine on a 1-hitter. Seo surrenders the only hit of the game, a fifth inning single by Juan Encarnacion.

The last time one time held a team to one or fewer hits in consecutive games was back on May 3-4, 1996, when the Rangers did so to the Tigers. Ken Hill threw a one-hitter on May 3, a first inning single by Bobby Higginson. On May 4, Roger Pavlik gave up only a 5th inning homer to Mark Lewis.

The Milwaukee Brewers have fired manager Ned Yost with just 12 games left in the regular season and the team tied for the wild card spot.

Dale Sveum will be the interim manager.

Bench coach Ted Simmons was also reassigned to a different position.

For a parallel, in 2000, the New Jersey Devils fired coach Robbie Ftorek with eight games left in the regular season and replaced him Larry Robinson. The Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup.

No one has clinched a spot and no one was eliminated. But there is a tie for the NL Wild Card now. Some teams have moved to the critical list. Cleaned up the entry a bit and made Detroit's lifespan shorter.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 7 (Cubs win and Brewers lose twice)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 10 (Dodgers and Diamondbacks lose)
• Mets (NL East) -  13 (Mets lose and Phillies win two)
• White Sox, Twins (AL Central) - 13 (White Sox sweep while Twins lose)
• Rays (AL East) - 14 (Rays lose and Red Sox win, Rays have magic number of 8 to make the playoffs)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 8 (Red Sox win and Twins lose)
• Brewers, Phillies - 13 (Brewers swept by Phillies to force tie. If the Phillies and Mets tie for the NL East and both would make the playoffs, the Mets would win the division and the Phillies would be the wild card.)

Mostly dead

Detroit will be eliminated with a loss to Texas or a win by Minnesota. Cleveland will be eliminated will be eliminated with a loss to Minnesota.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that adds up to 12. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case they finish with the same record. The team with the best record in the AL will get the option of picking which Division Series schedule to follow, one of which will start on October 1 and the other on October 2.

Games to be Played if Necessary

Cubs at Houston, Detroit at White Sox, both on September 29.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB
Washington	56	93
San Diego	56	92	1/2
Seattle	57	91	1 1/2

No quarter given and none taken in this race.

Remaining games left:

• Washington -  4 vs New York, 3 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego -  3 at Colorado, 3 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle -  4 at Kansas City, 3 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

Monday's Games of Note

Chicago (Lilly) vs Houston (Moehler) at Milwaukee, Los Angeles (Kuroda) at Pittsburgh (Ohlendorf), New York (Martinez) at Washington (Lannan), San Francisco (Hennessey) at Arizona (Davis), Minnesota (Slowey) at Cleveland (Lewis), Chicago (Buehrle) at New York (Aceves), Boston (Matsuzaka) at Tampa Bay (Kazmir).

The Minnesota Twins new ballpark will be called Target Field. Ticket offers for game will come every Sunday in a glossy insert in the paper along with information on sales on tube socks and microwave ovens.

There are five Metropolitan Areas that share two teams (these are determined by me, of course). And some of the races are close, but yesterday, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim clinched the LA/OC title with a win over Seattle and the Los Angeles Dodgers loss to Colorado.

The San Francisco/Oakland battle could come down to the final day.

Forgive me, if my poker terminology is incorrect.

In the top of the eighth inning at U.S. Cellular Field, Marcus Thames of the Tigers hit a grand slam home run off of Octavio Dotel to tie the game at 7-7.

In the bottom of the eighth, White Sox pinch hitter DeWayne Wise hit a grand slam off of Kyle Farnsworth to give the White Sox an 11-7 lead.

The last time each team had a grand slam in the same inning was on May 13, 2005 when Jeff Francouer Adam LaRoche of the Braves hit one off of Giovanni Carrara  Jeff Weaver of the Dodgers in the eighth inning and Milton Bradley of the Dodgers replied with one off of Chris Reitsma.

Carlos Zambrano became the first Cubs pitcher since Milt Pappas in 1972 against the Padres to throw a no-hitter. Zambrano gave up only a walk and a hit batter in a 5-0 Cubs win over the Astros at Milwaukee.

Retrosheet has a list of all known neutral site games.

Yesterday (September 13), there were 21 games on the MLB schedule. However, only 18 were played as the Cubs and Astros had been postponed much earlier and the White Sox and Tigers could never start their doubleheader.

September 13 could have been the busiest day in the majors since August 4, 1974 when 20 games were played. There were doubleheaders played in Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, Chicago (Comiskey Park), Detroit, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Minnesota.

So what caused this bounty of baseball? It wasn't necessarily poor weather. There was only one game rained out on August 3 and that was the game between the Twins and A's in Bloomington. However, that game was made up on August 5 as the Twins and A's already had a doubleheader scheduled for August 4. The Padres and Reds hadn't played on Saturday because the Padres didn't have priority on San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy and now Qualcomm) and had to let the Chargers play a preseason game there. So they scheduled a doubleheader for August 4.

But this was a different time and teams would schedule doubleheaders before the season started. People didn't seem to mind sitting through two baseball games in the daytime in August. All of the doubleheaders were regularly scheduled.

Also, the Yankees and Red Sox were going to play a doubleheader at Shea Stadium, but the teams could only get in one game, a 7-3 Red Sox win, and the second game was rained out and made up as part of doubleheader on September 24.

One team (Texas) departed the scene and the Cubs and Dodgers crept closer to the coveted single digit status in their magic numbers.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 10 (Cubs rained out and Brewers out)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 11 (Dodgers win and Diamondbacks lose)
• Mets (NL East) -  13 (Mets split doubleheader and Phillies win)
• Rays (AL East) - 14 (Rays and Red Sox both split doubleheaders)
• White Sox, Twins (AL Central) - 16 (White Sox rained out, but Twins sweep doubleheader. White Sox hold .001 lead)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 10 (Red Sox split pair and Twins sweep)
• Brewers - 13 (Brewers lose to Phillies and Astros were postponed)

Going, going ...

No one will be eliminated Sunday. The Rockies are the next closest team to elimination and that would require a combination of Dodgers wins and Rockies losses that add up to three. For the Giants, the number is four. In the AL, the Tigers and Indians fear running into a combination of losses and Twins wins that add up to five. The Yankees fear the number five as well, but the team that concerns them is Boston.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that add up to 14. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case they finish with the same record.

The Race to #30

The standings:

	W	L	GB
Washington	56	92
San Diego	56	91	1/2
Seattle	57	90	1 1/2

I've taken the Pirates out of the running as the Bucs have had the temerity to win two straight games.

Remaining games left:

• Washington - 1 at Florida, 4 vs New York, 3 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego - 1 vs San Francisco, 3 at Colorado, 3 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle - 1 at Los Angeles (Anaheim), 4 at Kansas City, 3 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland

Sunday's Games of Note

Most notably, the Astros and Cubs will finally start their series, but their three-game set has been shortened to two and will be played in Milwaukee. There will be a 5:05 pm PT start on Sunday with Carlos Zambrano facing Randy Wolf. Monday's game will be played at 10:05 am PT. The third game will be played on Monday, September 29 in Houston if playoff berths are at stake.

Also in Chicago, the Tigers and White Sox were rained out of a doubleheader and they'll try it again Sunday as a separate admission affair. The evening game will be an ESPN affair. The Tigers will send out Justin Verlander and Kenny Rogers against Javier Vazquez and John Danks. The third game of the series will be played on Monday, September 29 in Chicago if needed. And since the White Sox lead the Twins by .001 in the standings, there's a good chance it will be needed. Further complicating matters is that it's supposed to rain some more in Chicago Sunday. So good luck with that doubleheader idea.

The stumbling Brewers will try to hold on to their two-game lead in the wild card when they take on the Phillies in a day-night doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park. Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan pitch for the Brewers and Joe Blanton and Brett Myers pitch for the Phillies.

Other games: Atlanta (Campillo) at New York (Perez), Los Angeles (Maddux) at Colorado (Cook), Cincinnati (Cueto) at Arizona (Scherzer), Tampa Bay (Jackson) at New York (Pavano), Minnesota (Blackburn) at Baltimore (Liz), Toronto (Halladay) at Boston (Lester)

#58

Not that I planned it, but I was in Anaheim Saturday night and got to see Francisco Rodriguez erase Bobby Thigpen's name from the record books with his 58th save.

I had a photo of Rodriguez celebrating at the end of the game, but it came out blurry as it was dark, I wasn't all that close to the action, and I'm not exactly Mr. Steadi-Cam.

But I was there. Look!

Nothing more scintillating than watching a pitcher warm up. And Mark Teixeira looks particularly awe-inspiring in this shot too doesn't he?

The Texas Rangers became the tenth team to be eliminated from postseason contention today after losing to Oakland 7-1 and Boston winning the second game of its doubleheader against Toronto 7-5.

Heavy rains and potential hurricanes slowed down the pennant races. Six doubleheaders are scheduled for Saturday if the weather permits.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 11 (Cubs and Brewers both rained out)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 13 (Dodgers win and Diamondbacks do as well)
• Mets (NL East) -  14 (Mets and Phillies rained out)
• Rays (AL East) - 16 (Rays rained out and Red Sox win)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 16 (White Sox and Twins rained out)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 11 (Red Sox win and Twins rained out)
• Brewers - 13 (Brewers, Phillies, and Astros all rained out)

Going, going ...

Texas will be eliminated tomorrow if the Red Sox sweep their doubleheader against Toronto or the Rangers lose to Oakland and Boston and Toronto split.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that add up to 16. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case they finish with the same record.

The Race to #30

The standings:

• Washington 56-91
• San Diego 57-91 1/2 GB
• Seattle 57-89  1 1/2 GB
• Pittsburgh 61-86 5 GB

Remaining games left:

• Washington - 2 at Florida, 4 vs New York, 3 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego - 2 vs San Francisco, 3 at Colorado, 3 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle - 2 at Los Angeles (Anaheim), 4 at Kansas City, 3 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland
• Pittsburgh -  2 vs St. Louis, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Houston, 3 at Milwaukee, 3 at San Diego

Saturday's Games of Note

Weather permitting, there will be a lot of them.

Atlanta (Hampton and Reyes) at New York (Santana and Niese), Milwaukee (Parra) at Philadelphia (Hamels), Toronto (Burnett and Litsch) at Boston (Byrd and Colon), Tampa Bay (Shields and Garza) at New York (Mussina and Ponson), Minnesota (Baker and Perkins) at Baltimore (Cabrera and Olson), Detroit (Rogers and Miner) at Chicago (Vazquez and Broadway), St. Louis (Wainwright) at Pittsburgh (Karstens), Los Angeles (Kershaw) at Colorado (De La Rosa), Cincinnati (Volquez) at Arizona (Johnson)

Rain from various sources have wreaked havoc with baseball's schedule tonight.

First of all, the Cubs never even traveled to Houston to play the Astros because of Hurricane Ike's arrival in Texas. The three game series looks like it will now be played in Milwaukee on Sunday and Monday, although final details haven't been worked out.

The Rays and Yankees were rained out in the Bronx. That will be made up as a day-night doubleheader on Saturday. Weather permitting, of course.

The Mets were home too. And it wasn't too surprising that since it was raining in the Bronx, it would be raining in Queens. So the Mets and Braves will play a single-admission doubleheader Saturday. Tickets to the last remaining games at Yankee Stadium are obviously a scarcer resource than tickets to the last remaining games at Shea Stadium.

The Brewers and Phillies were rained out at Citizens Bank Park. That game will be made up as a day-night doubleheader on Sunday. The final game will not be televised because it runs up against the ESPN Sunday night blackout.

The Twins and Orioles were rained out at Camden Yards. That game will be made up as part of a single admission doubleheader on Saturday. The Orioles also have a game against Oakland that hasn't been rescheduled and I have my doubts that anyone will bother as both teams have been eliminated. I might care because I have Brian Roberts on my fantasy team.

The Tigers and White Sox were rained out at US Cellular Field. The game will be made up as a single admission doubleheader Saturday. This will be the second doubleheader of the week for the White Sox.

The coin flips to decide homefield for any tiebreakers in the divisions and wild cards. You could have watched them on MLB.com.

Or like me, you could just read the wire service story.

Anyway... Boston would host Tampa Bay for the AL East and Minnesota for the wild card. Chicago would host Minnesota for the AL Central.

The Phillies would host the Mets for an NL East tiebreaker as well as wild card tiebreakers against the Brewers, Astros, and Cardinals.

The Brewers would host the Cubs in an NL Central tiebreaker and the Dodgers would host the Diamondbacks in an NL West tiebreaker.

From the Wall Street Journal comes news that an environmental group is going to picket outside Nationals Park on Monday to protest the team using ExxonMobil as a sponsor even though the stadium proclaims that it is certified as "green."

“Strike Out Exxon,” the campaign behind Monday’s protest, also wants the Nationals’ owners to guarantee the park will never take on that corporate moniker and become “ExxonMobil Stadium.”

The Nats will be playing the Mets on Monday night. I'm sure the Mets fans at the game will take note of the protest and mention that their team's new park will be named for a huge banking and financial services company.

Joe Weisman of Dodger Thoughts and Variety and star of a 2-minute piece on the KCAL Evening News passes on this article from Variety about MLB getting into the film production business and debuting a documentary at the U.S. Sports Film Festival in Philadelphia.

"We Are Young," which gets a double run at the fest in Philadelphia on Oct. 23, the first day of the three-day event, concerns Dmitri Young, a talented Major Leaguer who was arrested for beating his wife and has gone through alcohol rehab, and his younger brother Delman [sic], another baseball talent suspended for 50 games in 2006 for throwing a bat at the umpire in a Triple-A game.

I'm waiting for Larry McMurtry to pair up with Bill Plaschke. There'd be one actor who wouldn't have to member any lines other than saying "Indeed!"

The playoff races changed only a little bit on Thursday as many of the leaders were off. Nobody clinched a spot and nobody was eliminated.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 11 (Cubs win and Brewers lose)
• Mets (NL East) -  14 (Mets off and Phillies win)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 14 (Dodgers and Diamondbacks idle)
• Rays (AL East) - 16 (Rays and Red Sox were idle)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 16 (White Sox lose as do the Twins)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 12 (Red Sox idle and Twins lose)
• Brewers - 13 (Brewers lose and Phillies and Astros both win)

Going, going ...

No team can be eliminated Friday. Texas is the next most likely team to go. The Rangers will be eliminated with a combination of Boston wins and Texas losses that add up to three. In the NL, the Marlins and Giants are both on shaky ground, but they should make it through the weekend.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that add up to 17. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case they finish with the same record.

Friday's Games of Note

Most notably, the Cubs and Astros won't play as the threat of Hurricane Ike has postponed Friday and Saturday's game in Houston. Sunday's game is scheduled to be played and the Astros are hoping to play a doubleheader Sunday and a single game on Monday. The alternative would be to make up the games after the season is over. That's not a very popular idea.

NL wild card leader Milwaukee is hoping to hold on to its three game lead over the Phillies and Astros, but they still have three more games left in Philadelphia.

In the bizarre world of the AL East (because Tampa Bay is ahead), the first place Rays may catch a break on the road facing the stumbling Yankees in their final Yankee Stadium homestand. The Red Sox are at home for four games against red hot Toronto.

Other games of import: Atlanta (Hampton) at New York (Santana), Los Angeles (Billingsley) at Colorado (Francis), Cincinnati (Harang) at Arizona (Webb), Minnesota (Baker) at Baltimore (Cabrera), Detroit (Verlander) at Chicago (Danks).

The Race to #30

The standings:

• Washington 56-90
• San Diego 57-90 1/2 GB
• Seattle 57-88  1 1/2 GB
• Pittsburgh 60-86 4 GB

Remaining games left:

• Washington - 3 at Florida, 4 vs New York, 3 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego - 3 vs San Francisco, 3 at Colorado, 3 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle - 3 at Los Angeles (Anaheim), 4 at Kansas City, 3 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland
• Pittsburgh -  3 vs St. Louis, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Houston, 3 at Milwaukee, 3 at San Diego

Friday and Saturday's games between the Cubs and Astros at Minute Maid Park have been postponed because of the imminent arrival of Hurrican Ike on the Texas Gulf Coast. Makeup dates have not been announced.

The battle for the #1 pick in the 2009 draft is coming down to three teams, with a fourth making a late charge. And three of the "contenders" will play against each other down the stretch.

The standings:

• Washington 56-90
• San Diego 56-90
• Seattle 57-87  2 GB
• Pittsburgh 60-85 4 1/2 GB

Remaining games left:

• Washington - 3 at Florida, 4 vs New York, 3 vs San Diego, 3 vs Florida, 3 at Philadelphia
• San Diego - 4 vs San Francisco, 3 at Colorado, 3 at Washington, 3 at Los Angeles, 3 vs Pittsburgh
• Seattle - 4 at Los Angeles (Anaheim), 4 at Kansas City, 3 at Oakland, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Oakland
• Pittsburgh - 1 at Houston, 3 vs St. Louis, 4 vs Los Angeles, 3 vs Houston, 3 at Milwaukee, 3 at San Diego

The Mariners probably have the least favorable schedule for getting the worst record as they play no teams who have anything to play for. The Angels will just be trying to not get hurt, although it's likely that the Angels reserves are still a lot better than the Mariners starters.

I am not a draft expert so I don't know what the tiebreaker is if two teams with the same record for the #1 spot. I'm guessing that the record the year before would prevail. So if San Diego and Washington finished tied, the Nats would pick first. But if someone knows the correct answer, please tell me and I will correct this info.

The Pirates could be a dark horse as they have a brutal schedule. Houston is hot and making a late run at the playoffs. The Cardinals still have a shot too. The Dodgers will be looking to make some hay in the NL West.

San Diego plays at Washington on September 19-21. Buy your tickets now! The Padres schedule is pretty easy down the stretch, with the kicker being that the Padres aren't very good.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have no more magic number to make the playoffs and they can coast the final two and half weeks.

The NL division races are getting some separation and the Rays 4-2 win at Boston stretched out their lead to 2 1/2 games in the AL East. Only the AL Central, where the White Sox lead the Twins by just one game, looks likely to come down to the final week.

The NL Wild Card sees the Brewers with a four game lead over Philadelphia and Houston. Houston?!? St. Louis is 4 1/2 games back.  The Red Sox lead Minnesota by five games for the AL wild card.

Here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders

• Cubs (NL Central) - 13 (Cubs win as do Brewers)
• Mets (NL East) -  14 (Mets win and Phillies lose)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 14 (Dodgers win and Diamondbacks lose)
• Rays (AL East) - 16 (Rays beat Red Sox)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 17 (White Sox win as do Twins)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 13 (Red Sox lose and Twins win)
• Brewers - 13 (Brewers win and Phillies and Cardinals both lose. Astros now part of equation)

Going, going ...

Tomorrow no team can be eliminated. Texas is the next most likely team to go. The Rangers will be eliminated with a combination of Boston wins and Texas losses that add up to three. In the NL, the Marlins and Giants are both on shaky ground, but they should make it through the weekend.

There's No Place Like Home

The Angels will clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason with a combination of wins and losses by Tampa Bay that add up to 18. And the Angels have 17 games left, which means the Angels don't have much of an edge. Tampa Bay would get home field against the Angels in case they finish with the same record.

Thursday's Games of Note

Division leaders Mets, Dodgers, and Rays are all idle. Milwaukee starts a four-game series in Philadelphia and the Phillies trail the Brewers by four games in the wild card. Houston concludes its four-game series against Pittsburgh and then welcomes the Cubs and Hurricane Ike. St. Louis concludes a three-game series with the Cubs.

In the AL, Minnesota goes for a sweep in Kansas City in a day game and the White Sox play their final game of a 4-game set against the Blue Jays. Toronto's 10-game winning streak was snapped by Chicago Wednesday night. Boston is off.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim clinched the AL West title today as they beat the Yankees 4-2 and then waited for Seattle to knock Texas out of the divisional race with an 8-7 win at Safeco Field. The only race left for the Angels now is with Tampa Bay and Boston to claim the #1 spot and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Angels lost their season series to Tampa Bay 6-3, but won the series against Boston 8-1.

The Cincinnati Reds became the ninth team to be eliminated from postseason contention today. The Reds lost at Milwaukee 4-3. That was the Reds 80th loss of the season and the Brewers 83rd win, keeping the Reds from any chance at the wild card.

Atlanta and Kansas City departed the scene, but Cincinnati stayed alive. The Angels had an opportunity to clinch tonight, but got nowhere close to it. The Angels can still clinch a playoff spot on Wednesday with a win at home over the Yankees and a Rangers loss in Seattle. Both of those games will be played during the day. (12:35 pm for the Angels and 1:40 pm in Seattle.)

So here are the magical numbers:

Division Leaders:

• Angels (AL West) - 2 (Angels lose and Texas wins)
• Cubs (NL Central) - 14 (Cubs lose, but so does Milwaukee)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 16 (Dodgers win and Diamondbacks lose)
• Mets (NL East) - 16 (Mets win and Phillies lose)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 18 (White Sox get swept in doubleheader and Minnesota wins)
• Rays (AL East) - 18 (Rays beat Red Sox)

Wild Card Leaders:

• Red Sox - 13 (Red Sox lose and Twins win)
• Brewers - 15 (Brewers lose, but so do the Phillies. The Cardinals are now in the equation as they are even with the Phillies in the loss column. If the Phillies and Cardinals lose Wednesday and the Astros win, then there will be three teams with the same number of losses chasing the Brewers.)

Teetering on the precipice

Cincinnati will be eliminated with a loss at Milwaukee. However, winning at Milwaukee has proven to be fairly easy recently as the Brewers on their current home stand lost three to the Mets, two of four to the Padres, and now the first two to the Reds. On the Brewers upcoming road trip, they will play four in Philadelphia, three in Chicago, and three in Cincinnati.

After the Reds are eliminated, it will be a few days before any other team is eliminated. The Rangers are the next most endangered team.

The Kansas City Royals became the eight team eliminated from postseason contention with their 7-2 loss to the Twins.

The Royals have 82 losses and will be unable to catch the Twins (79 wins) or White Sox (80 wins at the moment) since the two teams play each other three more times and one of them will have to win at least 81 games.

The Atlanta Braves became the seventh team to be eliminated from playoff contention after the Mets beat Washington 10-8.

The Mets won their 81st game of the season and the Braves have 82 losses.

Magic Number Updates

Division Leaders

• Angels (AL West) - 2 (Angels win, Rangers were idle)
• Cubs (NL Central) - 15 (Cubs idle, but Brewers lose)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 18 (White Sox rained out, Twins idle)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 18 (Dodgers lose, but Diamondbacks lose)
• Mets (NL East) - 18 (Mets idle and Phillies win)
• Rays (AL East) - 20 (Rays lose to Red Sox)

The Angels can clinch a playoff spot Tuesday with a win against the Yankees and a loss by the Rangers at Seattle.

Wild Card Leaders

Red Sox - 13 (Red Sox win with Twins idle)

Brewers - 16 (Brewers lose and Phillies win)

Don't Put Down a Deposit on Playoff Tickets for These Teams

• Atlanta will be eliminated with a loss to Colorado or a win by the Mets against Washington.
• Kansas City will be eliminated with a loss to Minnesota or a win by the White Sox in either game of its doubleheader against Toronto.
• Cincinnati will be eliminated with a loss at Milwaukee.
• Texas can only be eliminated from the AL West race Tuesday, not the wild card.

The Oakland Athletics became the sixth team in the majors to be eliminated from postseason contention after they were pounded in Detroit, 14-8 and Boston's 3-0 win over Tampa Bay.

The game featured Gary Sheffield hitting the 250,000th home run in major league baseball (1876 to the present) and Mike Hessman of the Tigers becoming only the second AL player to be hit by a pitch twice in one inning. Gio Gonzalez and Josh Outman did the honors.

Brady Anderson was the only other AL player to be hit by a pitch twice in one inning and that happened on May 23, 1999.

The Baltimore Orioles became the fifth team in the majors to be eliminated from playoff contention after Boston defeated Tampa Bay 3-0 tonight. That was Boston's 85th win of the season, knocking out the Orioles who already have 78 losses.

Deidre Silva and Jackie Koney, a pair of baseball fans from Seattle, decided that they wanted to put together a book about baseball that would be tailored for women. And the book got the somewhat inelegant title: It Takes More Than Balls: The Savvy Girls' Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Baseball.

I decided to give it a try, even though it appears to be marketed not unlike Secret deodorant. I needed to find out if the book was strong enough for me, yet written for a woman.

For the most part, I found the book to be, non-annoying. Silva and Koney definitely love and understand baseball. And they have written a very entertaining, well-written, and well-researched book that appeals to all types of fans.

I particularly liked the authors' introduction to the book where they state how you can be a baseball fan at any different level of intensity and none are "right." The game appeals to different people in different ways.

A good example of this is Silva and Koven's chapter on how to keep score. They mention the first rule of keeping score at a baseball game, which is, there is no one right way. They also don't feel that you have to keep score for the whole game. Other things might come up. You might get bored. You might have to leave. You might start talking to friends.

Remember, it's a baseball game, not a prison term.

But is the book an interesting read for the "savvy girl?" I can be savvy, but the last time I checked, I'm not a girl, so I asked someone who would pass for that, Mary, of This Book is For You, who reviews lots of books and plowed through this title in about a day. Mary grew up a Pirates fan and idolizes the skinny version of Barry Bonds, although her baseball heart really belongs to Andy Van Slyke.

Don Gutteridge, who played in 12 major league seasons from 1936 through 1948, passed away Sunday in Pittsburg, Kansas at the age of 96.

Gutteridge broke in with the Cardinals in 1936 and played with them through 1940. He didn't play in the majors in 1941, but resurfaced with the Browns in 1942 and was their starting second baseman for the 1944 pennant winner.

Once World War II was over, Gutteridge had to take a reserve role with the Red Sox and got to play in the World Series again in 1946, and again his team lost to the Cardinals. Gutteridge played a handful games with the Pirates in 1948.

Gutteridge also managed the White Sox in 1969 and 1970.

Of the 22 players who played in Game 5 of the 1944 World Series, which my mother attended, only three are still living: Danny Litwhiler, Stan Musial, and Marty Marion.

The final three weeks of the season are upon us and all we know is that Washington, Seattle, Pittsburgh, and San Diego won't be playing. But there should be a team clinching a spot in the postseason. And there will be a slew of eliminations this week.

Magic Number Updates - Division leaders

• Angels (AL West) - 3 (Angels win and Rangers lose)
• Cubs (NL Central) - 16 (Cubs lose, but so do the Brewers)
• White Sox (AL Central) - 18 (White Sox lose, but so do the Twins)
• Mets (NL East) - 18 (Mets and Phillies split twinbill)
• Dodgers (NL West) - 19 (Dodgers beat Arizona)
• Rays (AL East) - 20 (Rays lose and Red Sox win)

Wild Card Leaders

• Red Sox - 14 (Red Sox win and Twins lose)
• Brewers - 16 (Brewers lose, but Phillies drop one game in doubleheader)

The Angels will host the Yankees for three games and could be the first team since (I believe) the 1985 Blue Jays to clinch a division title while playing the Yankees. This would be a bit of a different situation since the Yankees and Angels are in different divisions and the Angels have such a big lead. In 1985, the Blue Jays beat the Yankees in Toronto on the next to last day of the season to clinch their first AL East title. So it's not like the Angels would be eliminating the Yankees in Anaheim.

Living on the Edge of Destruction

• Baltimore will be eliminated with a loss to Cleveland Monday or a Red Sox win over Tampa Bay at Fenway.
• Cincinnati will be eliminated if the Reds lose at Milwaukee Monday.
• Oakland will be eliminated with a loss at Detroit and a Boston win against Tampa Bay.
• Kansas City will be eliminated if the White Sox win at Toronto.

Atlanta is close to elimination, but doesn't play Monday. The Mets are off as well.

A new day, some coffee, and a check of the RIOT number site has told me that the San Diego Padres were eliminated from postseason contention last night after San Francisco beat Pittsburgh. How so? Buckle up, we're going for a journey into the seamy side of the NL West.

Here are the current NL West standings:

1. LA 72-70
2. ARI 71-70
3. COL 67-76
4. SF 61-80
5. SD 54-88

The key number here is 74. That's the maximum number of wins that the Padres can get.

Los Angeles and Arizona have one game left against each other. For this example, let's say Arizona wins giving the Dodgers and Diamondbacks both 72 wins.

Colorado has three games left with the Dodgers and six with Arizona. San Diego can't have Colorado win every one of those games because it would put the Rockies over 75 wins. So let's say the Rockies win just two of three from the Dodgers and four of six from the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks would have 74 wins, the Dodgers would have 73, and the Rockies would have 73. You can divide the wins up differently so the Dodgers could get to 74 and the Diamondbacks to 73, but still all the teams don't go past the Padres theoertical maximum of 74.

Ahh, but then there are the San Francisco Giants. The Giants play the top three teams in the NL in 16 of their final 21 games. So if we go with the scenario in the above paragraph, the Diamondbacks would have to lose all seven of their remaining games against the Giants. That pushes the Giants to 68. The Dodgers would have to lose five of their remaining six against the Giants, which puts the Giants at 73. And then the Giants have three left against Colorado.

Right now, the maximum number of wins for the Giants and Rockies is at 73. And with three games between the two teams, one of the teams has to win at least two games. Which means someone in the NL West will get to 75 wins. And the Padres won't.

Other info, see the Pittsburgh elimination entry.

Additional team on the edge: Kansas City. The Royals will be eliminated if they lose and the White Sox and Twins both win.

The Pittsburgh Pirates became the third team overall to be eliminated from postseason contention on Saturday night. The Pirates were eliminated when they lost their 81st game of the season, 7-6, in San Francisco. Earlier in the evening, Milwaukee won its 82nd game of the season, 1-0 over San Diego, so the Pirates faint wild card hopes died.

Pittsburgh's next loss will be its 82nd, guaranteeing the Bucs their 16th straight losing season, which would tie the Phillies record set from 1933-1948. The Phillies also had 14 straight losing seasons from 1918-1931 and in 1932 could only manage a 78-76 record.

As for the Pirates of this era (1993-2008) here are some of the leaders in important hitting and pitching categories:

• Games - Jason Kendall, 1252
• Runs - Jason Kendall, 706
• Hits - Jason Kendall, 1409
• Home runs - Brian Giles, 165
• RBI - Kevin Young, 579
• BA (min 500 PA) - Brian Giles .308
• OBP (min 500 PA) - Brian Giles .426
• SLG (min 500 PA) - Brian Giles .591
• SB - Al Martin, 152
• W - Jason Schmidt, 44
• L - Kip Wells, 53
• Saves - Mike Williams, 140
• Strikeouts - Jason Schmidt, 596
• Walks - Kip Wells, 330
• ERA (min 500 IP) - Denny Neagle, 3.95

Magic number updates

Division Leaders

• Angels - 5 (Angels lose and Rangers win)
• Cubs - 17 (Cubs win and Brewers win)
• White Sox - 19 (White Sox win and Twins lose)
• Mets - 20 (Mets and Phillies rained out, doubleheader Sunday)
• Rays - 20 (Rays lose and Red Sox lose)
• Dodgers - 21 (Dodgers switch places with Diamondbacks after win Saturday)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 16 (Red Sox lose and Twins lose)
• Brewers - 17 (Brewers win and Phillies don't play)

Don't Buy Them Any Green Bananas

Cincinnati can be eliminated by a loss to the Cubs and a Brewers win over the Padres.

Atlanta can be eliminated by a loss to Washington and a Mets sweep of a doubleheader over the Phillies.

San Diego can be eliminated with a loss to Milwaukee and/or a certain combination of wins by the other four teams in the NL West.

Magic number updates

Division leaders

• Angels - 5 (Angels lose, but so do Rangers)
• Cubs - 18 (Cubs lose and Brewers win)
• Mets - 20 (Mets lose and Phillies win)
• Rays - 21 (Rays lose and Red Sox win)
• White Sox - 21 (White Sox win and Twins win)
• Diamondbacks - 22 (Diamondbacks lose and Dodgers win)

Wild card leaders

• Red Sox - 17 (Red Sox win and Twins win)
• Brewers - 18 (Brewers win and Phillies win)

Teams that could be eliminated Saturday -

Pittsburgh - If Milwaukee beats San Diego and the Pirates lose to San Francisco.

San Diego - If the Padres lose to Milwaukee and Colorado beats Houston (but I have to double check the math). The Giants-Pirates game could have an effect also. (I double checked and I don't think it does.)

Deposed Cardinals closer to undergo elbow surgery

This was the way the AP headlined its story about Jason Isringhausen having elbow surgery.

Somehow, I now picture that in St. Louis that a junta of middle relievers, setup men, and LOOGYs staged a coup to get Jason Isringhausen out of his job. Now Isringhausen must spend the rest of his life in exile from St. Louis.

Some may also argue that being exiled from St. Louis is a reward, not a punishment.

My brother Tom has headed to Cuba to cover the upcoming US-Cuba World Cup qualifier this weekend.

Here's his first report.

And a followup.

Excerpts:

The Hotel Nacional is a historic monument, and it celebrates its history with pictures of famous people who have stayed there (Michael Keaton?) and a photo display in the lobby of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, including a shot of Guevara playing golf. (Well, he was a doctor.) Needless to say, he wore his military fatigues on the links.

The cable in my hotel room includes several channels in Chinese – though I’ve yet to see anyone who looks Chinese in the hotel – and what seems to be the Venezuelan version of C-SPAN. But there is also the Disney Channel (in Spanish), ESPN, CNN International, and the Discovery Channel. It’s worth noting that your ordinary Cuban can’t see those channels. They’re only available in tourist hotels. Though a recent relaxing of rules now allows Cubans to stay in tourist hotels, presumably if they wanted to watch something on ESPN.

Some of my critics have said that Bob Timmermann hates America. They're right.

However, I need the metaphor.

Magic numbers to clinch division titles:

• Angels - 6
• Cubs - 18
• Mets - 20
• Rays - 21
• White Sox - 22
• DBacks - 22

Wild card leaders:

• Red Sox - 18
• Brewers - 19

Both the Mets and DBacks can cut into their magic number this weekend as they both play their closest pursuers. New York hosts Philadelphia for three games starting tonight (Brett Myers vs. Mike Pelphrey) and Arizona travels to Los Angeles (Dan Haren vs. Derek Lowe).

No teams can be eliminated tonight.

Todd Cruz, an infielder who played for six different big league teams in a six year big league career, died Tuesday while swimming at his apartment complex in Bullhead City, Arizona.

Cruz's career was highlighted by being a member of the 1983 Orioles World Series championship team. That Orioles team never could settle on a regular third baseman and used Cruz along with Leo Hernandez, Aurelio Rodriguez, Glenn Gulliver, and cameo appearances by Rich Dauer and Gary Roenicke.

Now without any John Feinstein or Bob Knight material!

Pittsburgh, after its 8-6 loss this afternoon in Cincinnati, is the closest team to being eliminated from the playoffs. The Bucs have 80 losses and the wild card leading Brewers have 80 wins. And the Brewers start a four game series at home against the Padres tonight.

Speaking of the Padres, if San Diego is swept in Milwaukee, that would bring them to 90 losses and would eliminate them from the playoffs unless the Dodgers-DBacks series ends in a 2-1 Dodgers edge.

The AP photo below was from yesterday afternoon's Braves-Marlins game at Dolphins Stadium. The question I have is: why did the guy stay in this particular seat?

Eighty years ago today, the Boston Braves started a record breaking stretch of eight straight doubleheaders by getting swept by the Brooklyn Dodgers at home 3-2 and 9-2.

The Braves would return the favor the next day with a sweep of Brooklyn.

After a day off, the Braves traveled to Philadelphia and split a doubleheader with the Phillies on September 7, but were swept at Baker Bowl the next day.

The Braves took another day off and then returned home to face the Giants for an eight game series over four days starting on September 10. The series was originally supposed to end on September 13, but rain washed out the doubleheader scheduled for September 12 and it was moved to September 14. No matter when the games were played, it was bad news for the Braves. They dropped all eight games and were outscored 63-24 by the Giants.

On September 15, the Braves played the final doubleheader in the stretch. And Boston split a pair against the Cubs.

The Braves played 13 doubleheaders in all in September of 1928 and ground out a 10-25 record. Aside from the two doubleheaders in Philadelphia, the Braves left Boston just one other time, dropping a single game at New York on September 2, 5-2.

The 1928 Braves finished with a 50-103 record, 44 1/2 games behind first place St. Louis. And they weren't even the worst team in the NL. The Phillies finished 43-109.

Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby was the leader of the Braves through this season. Hornsby took over as manager on May 25. Hornsby led the NL in BA (.387), SLG (.632), and OBP (.498). The Braves loved Hornsby so much that he was traded to the Cubs for five players and $200,000.

The only other player of note on the Braves was first baseman George Sisler, who made his NL debut with the Braves after 12 seasons in the AL. Sisler opened the year in Washington for his 13th AL campaign and was sold to Boston in May. Sisler batted .340 for the Braves.

So to honor this stretch of doubleheaders, Oakland and Kansas City will try to play a doubleheader today at Kauffman Stadium. If for some reason the teams can't get the twinbill in, the two teams have an open date in common on September 25. Or maybe they'll just forget about the whole thing.

Dodger Thoughts commenter LAT suggested a contest to pick the first team and stadium when instant replay will be used this season. You can also guess "none."

The winner receives the admiration of his/her peers.

(Bumped back up for more people to try to go after that all important peer group success.)

UPDATE - Nobody had it exactly right, but dianagramr did guess Tropicana Field, but with a Rays home run. The correct answer is the Yankees at Tropicana Field. Ninth inning. Alex Rodriguez's home run down the left field line was reviewed and upheld!

Diane you have the limited admiration of your peers!

The MLB Official Scoring Star Chamber has upheld the decision of Pittsburgh's Bob Webb to award Pirates third baseman Andy LaRoche a hit in the August 31 game between the Brewers and Pirates. CC Sabathia will have to settle for a one-hit shutout.

The MLB Official Scoring Star Chamber issues press releases, making it the first Star Chamber in recorded history to do so.

This past weekend, I got the rare opportunity to see football games played in two of America's most famous and storied stadiums: Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Both facilities are over 80 years old with the Rose Bowl opening in 1923 and Michigan Stadium making its debut in 1927 and both have had extensive renovations done since they opened (Michigan is having even more done now.) However, each crowd and each game had quite a different feel. The only similarity between the two stadiums was that a football game was played in it. 

Continue reading...

For those interested (the two of you can put your hands down), you can track the battles to see who will be top dog in the five Metro Areas that share baseball teams on the sidebar down at the bottom right.

Some of the races are runaways. The Angels lead the Dodgers by 16 games and the Orioles lead the Nats by 10 1/2.

The best races are in New York, where the Mets have a 3 1/2 game lead over the Yankees and in the Bay Area where the Athletics lead the Giants by 4 games. The Giants-Athletics race should keep people on the edge of their seats.

Doing so makes it much easier to leave when you get bored watching Oakland or San Francisco.

Time for a big aloha to Kansas City Royals September callup Kila Ka'aihue, whom I believe is the first major leaguer to sport an 'okina (aka the apostrophe) in his surname.

So don't leave out that glottal stop when saying his last name. And since Ka'aihue had a pretty good year in AA and AAA, you might be hearing his name more.

Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin, still upset that CC Sabathia didn't get credit for a no-hitter Sunday, is proposing now that all controversial decisions be decided by the official scorer and a writer covering each team involved in the game.

Melvin says that there is too much pressure on one individual to make such decisions.

Interestingly, the good folks at NORAD have adopted the same system and any nuclear strikes will now be decided by the President, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a sportswriter from the country about to get nuked.

The Milwaukee Brewers are protesting the official scorer's decision that gave Pirates third baseman Andy LaRoche a hit and kept CC Sabathia from throwing a no-hitter.

The appeals process is spelled out in Rule 10.01(a) and is one of the longer rules on the books:

The official scorer shall make all decisions concerning judgment calls within 24 hours after a game concludes or is suspended.  A player or club may request that the League President review a judgment call of an official scorer made in a game in which such player or club participated, by notifying the League President in writing or by approved electronic means within 24 hours of the conclusion or suspension of such game, or within 24 hours of the official scorer’s call, in the event the official scorer changes a call within 24 hours after a game concludes or is suspended, as provided in this Rule 10.01(a).  The party requesting review shall submit, before the close of the second business day of the league office following the request for review, any written explanation or other evidence (such as videotapes or electronic media) the player or club wishes the League President to consider in reviewing such request.  The League President shall not consider any evidence submitted after the time for submission set forth in this Rule 10.01(a).  The League President, after considering the evidence submitted and any other evidence he wishes to consider, may request that the official scorer change a judgment call or, if the League President concludes that the judgment of the official scorer had been clearly erroneous, may order a change in a judgment call.  No judgment decision shall be changed thereafter.  A league may impose a reasonable fee upon a party requesting such review in the event that the judgment call of the official scorer being reviewed is upheld.

Pittsburgh official scorer Bob Webb can only be strongly suggested to change his call by the Commissioner's Office. The rule leads me to believe that the Commissioner's Office (written as "League President" here) would only unilaterally make a change if Webb had made a call clearly in error (such as awarding the wrong player a putout on some odd play.)