As we head from the dog days of August into the final weeks of the season it is time to look at the playoffs and teams that will have an impact in the post-season. There will be a new team crowned this October as the San Francisco Giants have fallen off the map and are enduring a big hangover from last season.
Top 5 storylines:
1) Pittsburgh Pirates ready for the Post-Season?
2) Terry Francona & the Cleveland Indians
3) Alfonso Soriano returns home
4) AL Wild Card Battles
5) The NL Central
5)The NL Central has gone from the weakest division in the league to possibly the most competitive gone. With the Houston Astros moving to the AL West there leaves five teams up for the division, three of which are within two games of each other. The other two the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers are a few years away from competing. The St.Louis Cardinals lead the division and Mike Matheny has done a superb job in keeping things competitive after Tony La Russ stepped down. The Cardinals have just a one game lead on the Pittsburgh Pirates who will have their first winning season in over 15 years. After two years of looking close to making a run the Pirates have finally put it togeather in 2013 with veterans Francisco Liriano and A.J. Burnett leading the rotation. They added veterans John Buck, Marlon Byrd and most importantly former AL MVP Justin Morneau. The Pirates sold playoff tickets for the first time in 21 years but that may be short lived if they can't take the division and forced to play the Cincinnati Reds in a 1-game playoff. The Reds go under the radar all season but Dusty Baker has his team playing great ball. With studs like Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips manning the right side of the infield the Reds will always be in contention and with 100mph Aroldis Chapman in the 9th this team does a good job of playing with the lead. Advantage goes to the team that can take the division while the other two fight it out.
4) Over the last few weeks the AL Wild Card battles have opened up faster then a Ferrari F50 down a highway. It has gone from a two team race into six teams within two games of each other. Texas, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, New York, Kansas City and Cleveland are all up for the grabs with the leading Rangers and Rays stumbling in their last 10; both are (3-7). Texas should be in the playoffs or at least the division which could open up the possibility of Oakland stumbling. The other spot is really anyones games, but if I was a betting man I would go with Baltimore. Despite Tampa Bay having the pitching to surely take them into the post-season it would be an utter waste to see Chirs Davis's magical season to come to an end. The Orioles have a very potent lineup and with some late additions to the bullpen they will surely be battling to the final game.
3) Alfonso Soriano is a curious case. He was signed as a un-drafted free-agent by the New York Yankees where he played from 2000-2003. It was in the final years that he had his best season he signed with the Texas Rangers. After two season in Arlington he went to the Nationals and had his best year professionally with 46 home runs. He finally cashed in with an 8-year 136 million dollar contract with the Chicago Cubs, and just like the Cubs over the last seven years have been mediocre at best. In his final year of his contract he is traded from the Cubs back to where it started in New York and since have helped the Yankees into a post-season run. Something that looked very gloom a month ago. He's hit 15 home runs and drove in 46 RBI's in 43 games since joining the team. He's also played some strong defence which is surprising for the 37-year old. If he continues to play at this level he will help the Yankees make it close in the Wild-Card and as we have seen in the past anything can happen in baseball.
2) Terry Francona went from a mess in Boston to the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball crew with Dan Shulman. It was only a matter of time to see the once Montreal Expo behind the bench but it was uncertain with what team. Once he chose the Cleveland Indians there was instantly a new spark in that organization I.E. Chip Kelly with the Philadelphia Eagles. Francona took the average Indians into a playoff looking team, and just two games out of a Wild-Card will surely make these last few weeks entertaining. Francona's presence helped the team land prized free agents Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn making the team very versatile. Francona has a lineup that is very consistent up and down this is seen visably with the team lacking a power hitter. Carlos Santana leads the team with 18 long bombs and Jason Kipnis leads the team with 76 RBI's that's the Catcher and Second Baseman respectively. He's also gotten his best pitcher and lone Jamaican in the MLB Justin Masterson to pitch at his very highest.
1) For the first time in 21 years the Pittsburgh Pirates were selling playoff teams. They are also ensured an above .500 record after winning their 82nd game last week. As mentioned earlier it will be up to the Pirates to take the division away from both the Cardinals and Reds and it won't be an easy task. That being said Andrew McCutchen has put togeather another MVP season and the additions of Morneau, Byrd and Buck will help down the stretch and into the post-season. On the mound Francisco Liriano leads the team with 16 wins while A.J. Burnett and a pair of newcomers in Jeff Locke and Gerrit Cole are ancohring the back half of the rotation. If the baseball gods are looking down on them then they will need help to take the division, a one game playoff with the Reds would be disastrous. However, it would be one more playoff game then they have had in 20 or more years. Pirates will make the playoffs but its uncertain if it'll be as the NL Central Division winner or as one of the two Wild-Card Spots.
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