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We'll start in the AL, where it's pretty evident at this point that Boston, New York, Cleveland, and LA are in. It's just a question of whether the slumping Sox or surging Yanks will win the East (they're separated by 1.5 games), and who ends up with the league's best record (Cleveland and LA are both 90-62). First-round match-ups are determined by seeding the division winners 1-3, and the Wild Card team is automatically the 4 seed. Seed 1 plays 4 and seed 2 plays 3, as long as two teams in the same division don't play each other in the first round. At this point, both first round match-ups are on the table (Cleveland vs. New York, LA vs. Boston or LA vs. New York, Cleveland vs. Boston) and mathematically, any of the four teams can still be the number one seed, and thus have home field advantage. But the real drama with who's in and who's out, is done.
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On a side note, it's quite likely we won't have a 100-game winner again this year, which I suppose, speaks to baseball's parity. The Indians and Angels would have to win the rest of their games to hit the century mark, and no other teams can finish with more than 99. We also didn't have a 100-game winner in 2006, meaning if we don't have any teams make it to 100 this year, it will be the first time since the 1991 and 1992 seasons that baseball hasn't had a 100 game winner for two straight seasons.
On a side, side note, I made a friendly bet with a friend of mine last night that the Red Sox won't get to within a game of the World Series (i.e. will win no more than 2 games in the ALCS). Based on how they're playing right now, I'm thinking that's a safe bet.
2 comments:
You know who was playing as badly as the Red Sox at this time last year?
The Cardinals and the Tigers.
Remember when the Tigers let the Twins, who were buried by a 14.5 game margin (kinda like a certain team this year was), come all the way back and win the division?
And remember when the Cardinals let the Astros pull within 2 games with a week left (after the 'Stros had been 8 back with two weeks left)?
If you got even money on your bet, I like it. But only b/c the AL teams are all equal, so any playoff series in the AL is 50/50, and there's at least some chance that the Sox would get swept in the ACLS.
I won't claim to know what will happen in the post-season. But I don't think anyone else does either.
I know. The Yankees are winning 11 straight.
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