American League playoff races

The baseball playoff races are heating up, particularly in the American League, which I will take a look at here.  The Athletics (88-67) have come up with two huge wins the last two nights in Texas against the Rangers (91-64), especially with the Angels (85-69) breathing down their necks.  We're talking two big road wins with the season winding down against the two-time reigning American League Champions.  The A's are just a half-game behind the Orioles (89-67) for the top Wild Card spot.  I don't want to jinx things, but it looks like the A's have what it takes to get to the play-in game.  And don't look now, but if they win tomorrow afternoon against Texas, they may have a chance to make things interesting in the AL West as well.

The Rays (85-70) have won seven straight to remain in the race.  Their saving grace is that they have three games at home against the Orioles next week to close the season.  The Yankees (90-65) aren't out of the woods yet, but the bet here is that they will win the American League East, leaving the A's and Orioles in the play-in game (hard to see Tampa Bay getting a sweep of Baltimore, which is what they may need).  But, there sure are a lot of teams in the chase even at this late juncture. 

Though it should still be interesting to see what happens, I still oppose the second Wild Card being added.  I like that it should be harder to make the playoffs and that the regular season was still a reward.  Although, on the plus side, I think baseball's regular season is still the least watered down in all of sports (though this doesn't make it okay in my book to water it down more).

The AL Central is going down to the wire as well.  The White Sox (82-73) appear to be fading at the wrong time and now trail the Tigers (83-72) by one game after leading the division by a few games not that long ago.  This thing is far from over, but the Sox need to turn it around now.  I think the Tigers now have the momentum, not to mention a talent advantage and will win the division by a slight margin.  Detroit would be a very dangerous team in the playoffs, with Justin Verlander at the top of the rotation and a middle of the lineup that features Miguel Cabrera (still a realistic chance to be the first player to win the Triple Crown since 1967) and Prince Fielder.

National League wins second straight All-Star Game

The National League defeated the American League tonight 5-1 in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Phoenix. It was the second straight All-Star win for the NL after a long winless streak. Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers (49-43) had the decisive blow with a 3-run home run in the 4th inning. Fielder was a deserving recipient of the game's MVP Award.

I have long felt that baseball has the best of all the All-Star Games in professional sports. The players are competitive and look like they are actually trying to win. This year was no different, with the exception of a few players like Derek Jeter who claimed to be injured and didn't show up despite playing in his team's most recent game. Stuff like that just isn't acceptable; I know I wrote my last blog about Jeter's 3000th hit and what a moment was -- I stand by that, but it doesn't make it right for him to stiff the All-Star Game.

Anyway, the All-Star Game was an impressive display of pitching by the National League. It was cool to see Brian Wilson of the World Champion San Francisco Giants (52-40) get the save and look pretty impressive in doing it. I also enjoyed Pablo Sandoval's RBI double in his first All-Star appearance.

I'm glad the National League won to give it home field advantage for the World Series, particularly for the possibility of my World Champion Giants reaching the Fall Classic for the second straight year. It's dumb that the All-Star Game decides home field advantage, but it will be a plus that I'll be happy to see the Giants have should they advance to the World Series again.

Thoughts on Ryan Braun's new deal

I am pleased to hear that Buster Posey and Tim Lincecum agree with me in that baseball shouldn't expand the playoffs. Good stuff there, worth a read. Expansion just serves to water down the regular season and a play-in round makes the early scheduling of the playoffs weird and if you ask me isn't exactly the true nature of the game because the division winners would be sitting for a long time in between games.

Anyway, I wanted to comment on leftfielder Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers (11-10) signing a five-year contract extension to keep him in Milwaukee through the 2020 season. Braun really is a superstar right now and it is very good for baseball that he will be staying in a smaller market like Milwaukee long-term. I was happy that Joe Mauer signed a long deal with the Twins last year, and I'm glad to see that team loyalty isn't dead. It's just not good when teams like the Yankees and Red Sox soak up all the best players as soon as they're eligible for free agency (or close to it via trade). Braun has always seemed to me like he has a good head on his shoulders and this is just further evidence of that.

Of course, on the other end of the spectrum is Braun's teammate, first baseman Prince Fielder who is in the last year of his contract and unlikely to re-sign with Milwaukee. Fielder is a great player, but he seems to be the type to try and exploit the free agent market and attempt to get a huge contract. Fielder's agent is Scott Boras, who is notorious for getting every last penny he can from the highest bidder for his clients. Boras is not good for baseball, just more of a money guy. Not that I think guys shouldn't get paid, but I think loyalty should play at least some role. Braun is still making more money than he can probably ever spend, but he is also showing loyalty and that he is content and happy in Milwaukee. I like that.