Talk of the Park #2: Wild Things

[browntown653]

With Barry Bonds dominating the headlines in his pursuit of Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, people forget that the Giants are strugg-a-ling mightily this year at 47-62, well out of the playoff chase. However, while the Giants stay in the cellar, 11 other MLB teams find themselves in prime playoff position - 5 games or less back of the Wild Card. The Wild Card playoff spot, given to the team in each league with the best record that doesn't win their division, was criticized at first but has quickly become a staple of the majors, with several Wild Card winners such as the 2003 Marlins and 2004 Red Sox going on to become world champions. At this point, Detroit leads the AL Wild Card by 0.5 games over New York and Seattle, with Minnesota and Toronto in striking distance, and San Diego paces the NL spot over Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Colorado who are all 4.0 or less games back of the Padres. With the races sure to go down to the wire, who are your Wild Card teams at this point in the season, and what do you think their odds are of becoming the next world champion?

I will weigh in with thoughts on this one in a bit.

[missionhockey21]

I would prefer not to comment on the AL for now as I just don't know the situations over there quite as well, at least to make a somewhat educated prediction although I do think it will be the Yankees getting that with the Tigers taking the Central and the Indians faltering.

As for the NL, it's damn interesting. We have the Braves with their deadline moves as I imagine they would like another one of those Division Titles snacks they've missed out on and the Phillies are right on their heels (but, it's the Phillies.) The Cubs and Brewers should continue to dog it out until one takes claim of the honor of being a poorer team record wise than the Wild Card winner. And then we have the Wild Wild West where even the Rockies are surprisingly still in it. The Dodgers are slumping hard at this point and I really think they are one team who should of made some moves at the deadline. And San Diego and Arizona is tough for me to call as I like the potential of the Diamondbacks' youth carrying them with a lot of momentum to October but on the other hand, the Padres have the pitching (which will be influential come some rookie and scrub bats when the rosters are expanded to 40 for the poor teams of the NL) and I think they are hungry for it. I think the Braves are taking the east and the Padres are taking the west with the Mets, D-Backs and Dodgers duking it out and my favorite there is the D-Backs. The D-Backs sweeping the Dodgers in August like they just did is huge I believe. I'll be in the minority on this one I am sure, as they don't have the stats as some other teams do, but if the young guys step up the rest of the way... I like their chances.

[love_that_reefer]

Ask me in a month. Too many teams in it and too much baseball left.

[Foster]

I think it's a little too early to say who is gonna take the wild card spot. But I still want to watch. Anything that happens at this moment can hurt the chances of all teams.

[browntown653]

Good post mission.

I don't really want to comment on the AL either because I'm just going to be biased and say the Yankees. But I do think Detroit will regroup to win the AL Central and the Yankees and Indians (maybe even the Twins, doubt it though) will duke it out for the WC.

As for the NL, I really like the Braves or whoever doesn't win the NL Central here. Milwaukee has hit a rough stretch but has the talent in their lineup and starting pitching to pull together a playoff berth and Chicago is a team that I love to win the NL if they should make the postseason, with a good top 3 in the rotation and middle 3 in the order. If they survive this stretch without Soriano, they're in great shape. I also like the Braves with the Teixeira trade, which really puts their lineup over the top, and I think Andruw Jones will be a big key to whether or not they return to October. The Diamondbacks are a supremely talented team but I have my doubts about them, and I like the Padres to win the West. The Dodgers could contend as well but my gut says Brewers/Cubs runner up or Braves.