With the Major League Baseball season winding down, divisional races are heating up and teams are making one last run for the pennant. While the National League is pretty much decided, except the NL Central and the wild card, the American League is wide open with seven teams hoping to play into October.
The AL Central is the closest divisional race at this point with the Chicago White Sox leading the Minnesota Twins by one game.
The south-siders are coming on strong late in the season, winning their last five games including an 8-6 win over the Twins on Tuesday night.??The Sox have a difficult schedule to close out the season, including series against the Boston Red Sox, Twins, Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees, all of whom have winning records.
The key to Chicago winning 15 of their last 20 has to be the pitching of their \Big Three,"" right hander Esteban Loiaza, right hander Bartolo Colon and left hander Mark Buehrle. The trio is 9-2 in the last 20 games for the ChiSox and will need to maintain their high level of play to hold off the Twins and the Royals for the division crown.
The Twins however, have the luxury of playing four of their last five series against the lowly Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers. The schedule definitely favors the Twins, but the remaining seven games between the Sox and Twins could decide the AL Central.??
The Kansas City Royals remain only three-and-a-half games behind the White Sox but have been slowly slipping throughout the second half of the season. The Royals also play the Indians and Tigers twice each, ending the season with a four-game home stand against the White Sox.
The Oakland A's lead the AL West by only a game and a half over the Seattle Mariners. The A's and Mariners play each other six more times this season including the final three games of the season at Seattle.??
The loss of A's star left handed pitcher Mark Mulder was a huge blow to the team, but they responded with a 10 game winning streak and overtook the Mariners for the divisional lead. Last year's AL most valuable player, shortstop Miguel Tejada, has strongly picked up his play after a lackluster first half and is poised to lead the A's to their second straight divisional crown.
Although the Mariners have struggled as of late, veteran left handed pitcher Jamie Moyer has come through in the clutch for Seattle with a 17-7 record and an outside shot at the Cy Young award.??Besides Moyer, the Mariners' staff has struggled all year and has been unable to show the consistency necessary to win a pennant.??
The Seattle offense has made up for the poor pitching for most of the year, but lately right fielder Ichiro Suzuki and second baseman Brett Boone have been unable to score any runs to help out the pitching staff.
The AL East is being controlled by annual stud New York Yankees but the Boston Red Sox are giving the Yanks all they can handle.??With a three-and-a-half game lead, New York is in the driver's seat of the division, but any slip can cost them a title.??
Both the Red Sox and Yankees have relatively easy schedules down the stretch as they each play the Indians, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Baltimore Orioles.
With the return of shortstop Derek Jeter, New York is finally becoming healthy and preparing to make a dominant stretch run that they have done so many times.??
The Yankees biggest key to holding off the rival Red Sox is to keep their starting pitching healthy, most importantly David Wells and Roger Clemens. Also, offensively, the key players will have to be first basemen/designated hitter Jason Giambi and centerfielder Bernie Williams. The two's productivity has slowed down as of late and therefore will need to improve in order to deliver the clutch hits and RBIs that they have become so accustomed to doing.
The Red Sox have been hot lately, winning 13 of their last 18 games, but sketchy pitching has been a question mark all season.??Besides ace right handed pitcher Pedro Martinez, the Red Sox have not had the consistency to keep up with the Yankees stellar pitching staff. In order for Boston to have a legitimate chance for their first division title since 1995, their so-called ""bullpen by committee"" can be nothing like a committee. Right handed pitcher Byung Hyun Kim needs to establish himself as the team's lone, reliable, every day, shutdown closer in order to make the most positive impact on his team.
With the final month of baseball coming to an end, every division is up for grabs but clutch pitching and consistent offense can help any one of these teams make it to October.
