Update on Playoff Races

American League Playoff Race

It has been 16 days since my post on my playoff picture prediction. Let's see how I'm doing:

Changes since Sept 1st

• Texas has swapped spots with Houston and has taken control of the AL West by a game and a half
• Cleveland, Baltimore, and Seattle have all passed Tampa Bay in the race for the 2nd Wild Card spot
• Toronto has maintained the lead of the AL East over New York

How I Predicted the Season Would End

• Toronto wins East, KC wins Central, Houston wins West
• New York and Cleveland win the 1st and 2nd Wild Card spots

So far, I am correct with the AL East and Central division leaders, and also the 1st Wild Card spot. Although I am not correct in my prediction for the AL West leader and 2nd Wild Card spot, there are still plenty of games left in the season.

"Cleveland’s second-half ERA of 3.73 is the third-best in the American League, and the Indians are 23-13 since Aug. 7." - Buster Onley

Cleveland is my bold pick to win the 2nd Wild Card spot. The Indians were 10 games under .500 and 3rd to last in the AL on August 7th. They were counted out of contention. Now they are 3rd in the race for the 2nd Wild Card spot with a .500 record (entering tonight). They need to keep playing strong, taking game by day and winning series if they want to stay alive and move up in the race. So basically Indians, keep playing good baseball. The Tribe have made an intriguing case of showing life and being a true darkhorse in race for an AL Wild Card spot.

Houston, we have a problem! The 'stros are on a 4 game losing streak, are 2-8 in their last 10 games, and lost their lead in the AL West. I hate to see this team not win the division. From usual last to first. However, the Rangers have caught fire. Texas has great potential to finish the regular season out hot. Coming off a sweep against the Astros, they now play Seattle, then Oakland, Houston again, Detroit, then the Los Angeles Angels. It will be key for Houston to fix their problem and capitalize in their final match-up against Texas, which is a 3 game series they are hosting. 


The National League Playoff Race

The National League race is pretty much figured out. 

• Mets up by 8 games over Nats
• Cardinals up by 5 games over Pirates
• Dodgers lead Giants by 7.5 games
• Pirates have 1st Wild Card spot & Cubs have 2nd Wild Card spot
• PIT 2 games up on Cubs for 1st Wild Card

I predicted the Giants to make a run at the NL West division lead, but they hit a cold spell a couple of days after my post, and are seemingly out of contention. I did not jinx them, it was a total coincidence. 

The Race No One is Talking About

Big Race for Last Place

The race to make the Wild Card spots for the American League has been a hot topic for the last month or so. Other races for playoff spots that aren't as hot and almost figured out include the AL East division race between the Blue Jays and Yankees (Blue Jays up by 1.5 games), the AL West division race with Houston up on Texas by 2 games, and the NL Central division crown, which St. Louis has by 4.5 games over Pittsburgh. However, there is another race that is being overlooked. It is the big race for last place!

There are 7 teams that are very well in contention to finish with the worst record overall in the 2015 Major League Baseball season. These five teams are:

30.) Philadelphia Phillies (56-89), currently last,
29.) Atlanta Braves (56-88), second to last by a half a game,
28.) Colorado Rockies (60-84),
27.) Cincinnati Reds (60-83),
26.) Miami Marlins (61-83),
25.) Oakland Athletics (61-83), and
24.) Milwaukee Brewers (62-81)

The race was a lot closer a couple of weeks ago, when the last four teams were all around a game or two back from each other. However, these teams are still within reach of each other to finish last. Atlanta has 2 wins alone in the month of September, TWO WINS! They have plummeted straight to the bottom with Philadelphia. With the way they have been playing, I can see them winning the crown for last place. And by crown, I mean dunce hat (That much for a dunce hat? Wow!).  However, anything can happen. Teams in the bottom of the league sometimes heat up in the final games of the season.

The Team That Will Heat Up and the Team That Will Be Last

The team that will heat up and avoid the dunce hat for last place and finish with the best record out of the 7 teams will be the Cincinnati Reds. Coming off a series win of 3 games to 1 against the best team in baseball is pretty solid for a team contending for last place. To finish out their season, they will face the Giants, Brewers, Cardinals, the red hot New York Mets, 1 make-up game vs the Nats, the Cubs, then finish it off with the Pirates. I see them winning at least 11 of their final 19 games.

Your last place team in the 2015 Major League Baseball season will be the Philadelphia Phillies. It was a tough choice between Philadelphia and Atlanta, because both teams have been cold as of late. For the majority of the season Philadelphia has been in last place. At one time Miami took control of last, but that was only for a brief stint. Philadelphia does not have many players for the future, and need to rebuild ASAP. Trading away Cole Hamels was a good start. There are some highly rated prospects in their farm system that will probably be with them next season or the season after. With the GM being relieved of his duties, I'm sure Philadelphia will bring in a guy who will make better choices with signing players to better contracts that the ones the former GM made.

Maybe next season they will avoid the "dunce crown for last", or perhaps they get hot and avoid it for this season. It will be interesting to see which team does finish with the worst record in this crazy 2015 MLB season.

Calling the Shots

Orioles Rally to Route Royals Thanks to Psychic Orioles Fan

The Orioles defeated the Royals by a final score of 14-8 on Friday night. Kansas City lead the majority of the game. In the bottom of the 8th, the O's began to start a rally, a rally no one could have predicted to occur. Really, no one? Not one person could have predicted the out come, or predict it by tweeting it perhaps, before it actually happened? There was one person who did just that. Pitt Community College Freshman and die-hard Baltimore Orioles fan Sam Lee predicted two game changing events that took place in Friday evening's ball game, that were "long shots" (literally). 

The Orioles had the bases loaded with one out. Kansas City's Kelvin Herrera was pitching to Nolan Reimold, the next batter for the Orioles. Lee, who does not have Directv which carries MASN, the Orioles TV provider, was following the game via Twitter. Suddenlink was a better deal financially to fit the college student and his roomate's budget rather than having Directv. Roch Kubatko, a writer/reporter for the Orioles thru MASN, had tweeted the Orioles had loaded the bases for Nolan Reimold with one out in the bottom of the 8th. Lee, who is an avid autograph collector, received Nolan Reimold's autograph in 2006 when Reimold played for the Fredrick Keys, a minor league team for the Baltimore Orioles. He has been a huge Reimold fan and supporter since that day he received Reimold's signature. 

The college student had a strong feeling the Orioles were going to win on this night, and tweeted Nolan Reimold would hit a Grand Slam Home-Run in his at-bat. A couple seconds later, he read Kubatko's next tweet:

Kubatko was the first to report the Grand Slam through Twitter. If you notice to times between my tweet and Kubatko's tweet, you can see my tweet was tweeted one minute before his, thus a true correct, bold, and "grand" prediction. 

The Orioles were not done. They lead 8-6 after Reimold raked in 4 runs. Two more runs scored to make it a 10-6 ball game. Lee continued to follow this intriguing through Twitter.  Kubatko tweeted the O's had the bases loaded once again, and this time Steve Clevenger was up. The die-hard Orioles fan Sam had already called one grand slam, so why not call another? 

After reloading his timeline a couple of times, a tweet appeared from Roch about what transpired when Clevenger was at the plate:

Sam Lee could not believe what he read. He was in complete shock! Yet again he calls, and the Orioles answer. Clevenger hit a Grand Slam, one minute after he had tweeted that Clevenger would. What a night for the Baltimore Orioles, their fans, and especially this one. If this was a title to an episode of "Friends" it would be "The One With the Grand Calls". Goodnight America.

Into the Final Month We Go!

Playoff Races

Here we are, the month of September! The final full month of the regular season for Major League Baseball. The race for the Wild Card in the American League is still up for grabs for many teams including the Twins, Angels, Rays, Indians, Orioles, and even the White Sox. The National League Wild Card has been locked down for a while now between the Pirates and Cubs. The Giants are 5.5 games back, and may could make a second Wild Card berth, but have a better shot at winning the division than for that to happen. Other than the NL West, it's clear to see who will take the division in each division.

-The Yankees are well in reach of the Blue Jays for the division, and have to play them 7 more times before the season is over.

-Texas sits 4 games back of the first place Houston Astros in the AL West, and they meet up 7 more times as well.

-The best team in baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals shouldn't feel too comfortable in the final month of regular season play. Pittsburgh is only 5 games back. The two teams meet up a total of 6 more times before it is all said and done.

-Last but not least, the NL West. As I said earlier, the Dodgers have the lead in the division. The Giants, who are in second, only trail by 4.5 games. San Francisco has created a dynasty of players and a winning reputation for the past 5 years, winning 3 World Series in that span. This is an organization that knows how to not only play in October, but to win as well. Los Angeles plays San Francisco 6 more times before the season ends. Will the Giants add to their excellence of post season play by beating out the Dodgers in the division?

Prediction Time

 In the American League, there are a possible 44 different combinations American League teams to make the 1st and 2nd Wild Card spot. I did not calculate this in order of 1st and 2nd Wild Card spots, however. These teams include the division leaders Blue Jays and Astros because there is a possibility of then teams in second to take the division from them, making them Wild Card eligible. Other teams included are the Wild Card leaders, the Yankees and Rangers, and the teams that follow them down to the White Sox, who sit 6.5 games back.

AL East: Toronto Blue Jays
AL Central: Detr- Ha, just kidding! Kansas City Royals
AL West: Houston Astros
1st AL Wild Card: New York Yankees
2nd AL Wild Card: Cleveland Indians

I have predicted the Cleveland Indians to win the 2nd Wild Card Spot in the American League. Cleveland has been down most of the season, but has shown signs of late life after the All-Star break. Corey Kluber has been pitching lights out after the break. The other pitchers of the Indians pitching staff have been stellar as well. Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, and Salazar are all ranked in the top 10 most strikeouts in the American League. This team has also entered the month of September winning 8 of their last 10 games. Francisco Lindor has been hitting the ball well over his last 15 games, along with Lonnie Chisenhall,  Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis, all hitting over .300. This team has some weapons offensively and pitching wise. They are one of the hottest teams going into the final games of the regular season, and that is why I pick them to capture the second Wild Card spot.

NL East: New York Mets
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals
NL West: San Francisco Giants
1st NL Wild Card: Pittsburgh Pirates
2nd NL Wild Card: Chicago Cubs

San Francisco to me is a sneaky team. They have players they are sneaky and streaky, and find a way to win games with those players. These players include Brandon Crawford, Matt Duffy, Joe Panik, and Kelby Tomlinson. Crawford doesn't really fit the sneaky category before since he was an All Star this year, but he has been kind of cold after the All Star Break. He is a player than can be streaky, and since people haven't been thinking too much of him since he's gotten cold, he could sneak up and get hot, thus making him sneaky and streaky. I like the players the Giants added over the Trade and Waiver Deadline more than I like the players who the Dodgers added. Marlon Byrd and Mike Leake were great fits for the Giants. Chase Utley was a good fit for the Dodgers, but I don't think Mat Latos and Alex Wood will continue pan out as the season concludes. Also, Joc Pederson has been struggling majorly after the All Star Break, and he was a big part to the Dodgers success in the 1st half. Yasiel Puig has had a down year. Justin Turner, who's been fantastic this year for LA, has not hit the ball exceptionally well lately, hitting under .200 his last 15 games. Plus the Giants schedule for September includes playing teams such as the Rockies, Diamondbacks, Padres (2 series each), Reds, and Athletics (1 series each), all teams that are below .500. They do play the Dodgers 6 more times however. Los Angeles plays some of the same teams, but not all. They play the Pirates and Angels, teams that are above .500. It will be interesting to see who will take this division. I picked the Dodgers to win it all in my predictions I made in March, and I may regret this decision by not sticking with them.