As we enter the final day of MLB’s regular season in 2012, the
National League post-season picture is all set while two key
divisions are still up for grabs.
Let’s start with the Senior Circuit. The Cincinnati Reds and San
Francisco Giants both clinched the NL Central and NL West last
month. On Monday night, the Washington Nationals clinched the NL
East. Fans in DC will see post-season baseball for the first time
since the Washington Senators won the AL pennant in 1933. While I
am happy for DC’s long suffering baseball fans, I cannot help but
think that if things went a little differently this post-season
would be celebrated in Montreal.
Last night, the St. Louis Cardinals clinched the second NL Wild
Card spot and will face the Atlanta Braves on Friday afternoon to
determine the Wild Card winner. A year ago, when there was only one
Wild Card spot, the Cardinals supplanted the Braves on the last day
of the regular season. The Braves, of course, had a collapse not
unlike that of the Boston Red Sox at the end of the 2011 season.
But quite unlike the Sox, the Braves didn’t go out and hire Bobby
Valentine. Cooler heads prevailed and the Braves are stronger for
it. The Braves will also be hosting this game, which gives them an
advantage over the defending World Series champs. If the Braves
prevail, then they will face the Reds in the NLDS while the
Nationals face the Giants. But if the Cardinals break Atlanta’s
heart again, then the Cards face the Nats while the Reds face the
Giants.
As for the Junior Circuit, the Detroit Tigers became the first
AL team to clinch a division on Monday night as they won the
Central for a second consecutive year. The Tigers were widely
expected to run away with the Central but got off to a slow start
and the upstart Chicago White Sox led for much of the way. But the
Chisox lost 10 of their last 14 games at precisely the moment the
Tigers played their best baseball of the year. For reasons I
explained earlier,
I am delighted at this turn of events. At the end of this
evening, we shall also know if Miguel Cabrera becomes MLB’s first
Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski led the AL in batting
average, home runs, and RBIs with the Impossible Dream Red Sox in
1967.
The AL East and AL West, however, are still undecided. The New
York Yankees hold a one game lead over the Baltimore Orioles. If
the O’s can beat the Tampa Bay Rays and the poor, pitiful Red Sox
can somehow beat the Yankees tonight, then it will force a 163rd
regular season game to determine the winner of the AL East to be
played in Camden Yards on Thursday. But if the Yankees win, or if
the Orioles lose, then the Yankees win their 13th AL East title
since 1996. But the O’s will take it. After all, this will be their
first post-season since 1997 and an opportunity to expunge the
horror of Jeffrey Maier’s glove.
As for the AL West, the Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics come
into tonight tied for the lead. Everyone expected the Rangers to be
here. After all, they’ve won back to back AL pennants. But no one
expected Oakland, a team that hadn’t had a winning record since
2006 and had traded their two best starting pitchers and their
closer away last offseason.
Yet if the A’s win tonight, the Rangers will be forced to fight
for the AL Wild Card. It is not inconceivable that the Rangers and
Yankees (the teams expected to face one another in the ALCS) might
be around for a single playoff game. If the O’s & the A’s win
the AL East and West, the world will have truly turned upside down
and baseball will be the better for it.
