Can the reigning NL champ Phillies catch the Braves in the final stretch? Oh, and why is a girl with this amazing of knockers a Phils fan? What a waste...
The National League this season has hands down been the most interesting and entertaining race baseball has seen in years. As of today, there are 6 teams that all are first place caliber teams (2 in each division, making it even better), 2 of them that absolutely nobody predicted would even be over .500 this year, and the largest lead being a whopping 2 games over in the East. For one reason or another, nobody in the National League can pull away and take the division by storm, and I’m still waiting for San Diego to all apart (even though thats clearly not happening).
Usually be mid August, or really even July, we have a pretty good clue as to who’s making the playoffs and who’s not. Just take a look over at the AL this season. There’s absolutely no suspense and entertainment in the 2nd half. Boston’s old and injured (although they may be suddenly creeping back), the Angels suck this year, and it’s pretty damn obvious that the post season will be Rays, Yankees, Rangers, and Twins (Sox will fall apart). But this post season lineup would make for some great playoff series’.
Back to the NL where we have 6 teams all still vying for FIRST place, and another 3 still alive for the Wild Card. All of these races are literally going to go down to the final week and it’s going to be awesome. This is what makes baseball so great sometimes, as you can play 162 damn games and still end up with the EXACT same record as your division rival, forcing a one game playoff. There’s nothing better in sports than a 1 game playoff in baseball, especially when the teams get to throw their aces. Let’s take a look at each division’s race:
At 13-5 with 2.24 ERA, Hudson is having the best year of his career
In the East we have the Braves still in first place with the surging Phillies creeping up behind them at 2 games back. Both teams are injured right now with most notably Prado, Howard, and Utley on the DL. Yet somehow, the Phillies have managed to get hot without it’s two best hitters. This pennant race will go right down to the wire, where these two teams play each other 6 times in their last 12 games. Doesn’t get much better than that.
In the Central, the Reds have made a statement this season and are currently 1.5
games ahead of the Cardinals. I’m really pulling for Cincinnati because I would love to see the Reds actually make the playoffs and I am so sick of seeing the Cards in there. I must admit that I thought the Reds would fall apart around July, but I was definitly wrong. This team is for real and have probably the best player in the National League this season in Joey Votto.
Over in the West there’s the first place Padres, and the…wait, what? How the hell are the Padres who only have 1 good player on their entire roster still in first? Well, I honestly don’t know and can’t figure it out. All I know is that their group of starting pitchers that no ones ever heard of and probably never will talk about again after this season is somehow dominating and their awful offense is doing just enough to win games. Oh, and Heath Bell’s dirty too, so sorry about that, they actually have 2 good players. Right behind them is the Giants who have probably the best pitching rotation in baseball this season, and I just don’t get how they haven’t caught up with the boring as all hell Padres yet. Look for the Giants to pass them in the next week or so, but then again I’ve been saying that all season.
For the Wild Card obviously all 6 of these teams are the favorites, but there are also the Rockies, Mets, and Dodgers left in contention. The Mets need to find a way to beat Halladay today, and the Rockies need Helton to get hot upon his return. The Dodgers are boring and Manny’s done, so who the hell cares about them. I guess I’d pick the Mets to have the only shot of these 3 teams because there are so many divisional games left for them, so they have a chance to get hot and move up in the East.
So get your booze, TV, and computer (to keep checkin in on the booze crew of course) ready for the final stretch of the 2010 MLB season and get ready for some playoff atmosphere baseball in August and September.
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