Baseball: The American League Playoff Race

[Dynasty]

The standings as of Tuesday, 9/16:

AL East

New York Yankees: 93-57
Boston Red Sox: 87-62 (5.5 GB)

AL Central

Minnesota Twins: 81-69
Chicago White Sox: 80-69 (0.5 GB)
Kansas City Royals: 77-72 (3.5 GB)

AL West

Oakland A's: 91-60
Seattle Mariners: 86-64 (4.5 GB)

AL Wild Card

Boston Red Sox: 87-62
Seattle Mariners: 86-64 (1.5 GB)
Chicago White Sox: 80-69 (7.0 GB)
Kansas City Royals: 77-72 (10.0 GB)

The best race to watch should be the AL Central race. All the Central teams are so far behind in the Wild Card race that their only practical way to make the playoffs is to win the division.

In the division fight, the Twins appear to have a big advantage. Seven of their remaining twelve games will be played against the hapless Detroit Tigers (38-111). Two more games will be played against the Cleveland Indians (65-86) who have the third worst record in the AL. Only their 3-game home series against the second place White Sox over the next three days will be diffiuclt. As long as the Twins don't get swept by the White Sox, I like their chances a lot.

The White Sox have a brutal schedule in their last thirteen games. After their three game series in Minnesota, they play three home games against Kansas City and three more against the New York. Their final four games will be on the road aginst Kansas City.

It's the seven games between Chicago and Kansas City which I think gives the Twins the big advantage. While those two teams are beating each other, the Twins should be cruising against the worst team in more than 100 years. Kansas City also has three games at Cleveland and three home games against Detroit.

The Red Sox have a similar advantage in the Al Wild Card race. All thirteen of their remaining games are being played against sub .500 teams including six against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The other seven are against Baltimore and Cleveland. Meanwhile, the Seattle Mariners will have a brutal schedule with six of their games against the Oakland A's and the other six at Anaheim and at Texas. The Mariners will be playing their next nine games on the road before their final three game home series against the A's.

The Mariner's only hope in the Al West race will be those six games against the A's. They're almost going to have to win five of those six games for any chance of wining the division. Oakland also has three games against Anaheim and Texas but they have a 6-5 split of home and road games. The division is nearly won.

In the Al East, the Yankees basically have it locked up. They've also got an easy schedule with nine of their last twelve games against lowly Baltimore and Tampa Bay.

So, my playoff predictions are:

AL East champion New York Yankees vs. AL Central champion Minnesota Twins

AL West champion Oakland A's vs. AL Wild Card Boston Red Sox.