Men's Baseball MLB 2021

[Monzanator 4,768]

Cardinals swept Padres over the weekend but they still have 7 games vs Brewers to play in the season. They have a three game lead for the second NL wild card spot.

[Monzanator 4,768]

And the Cardinals keep on winning. They tied a franchise record of 14 wins in a row last night matching the feat from 1935. The NL wild card race is basically over unlike AL where Blue Jays suddenly look cold after a bad loss to the Twins. The long-time suffering Mariners are sniffing to move into one spot away from the 2nd wild card alas I believe Red Sox and Yankees will probably get in.

[phelps 8,287]

6 hours ago, Monzanator said:

And the Cardinals keep on winning. They tied a franchise record of 14 wins in a row last night matching the feat from 1935. The NL wild card race is basically over unlike AL where Blue Jays suddenly look cold after a bad loss to the Twins. The long-time suffering Mariners are sniffing to move into one spot away from the 2nd wild card alas I believe Red Sox and Yankees will probably get in.

not so fast...

 

the Yankees have an awful schedule (2 games vs Boston, 3 vs the Jays and 3 vs the Rays), meanwhile Boston and Toronto, other than the direct matchups against the Yankees, have to play teams like Minnesota, Washington and the Orioles...

 

sure, NY have their fate in their hands (if they win most of the direct matchups, they are in), but it won't be easy at all for them to accomplish that mission...

 

in the NL, I fear the Cards could even make it through to the World Series, given the shape they're in right now...I wouldn't like to be the Dodgers, facing them in a single game Wild Card round (even if they play in LA)...

 

in any case, it's gonna be an interesting "long week" to end this year's RS...

[Quaker2001 257]

4 hours ago, phelps said:

not so fast...

 

the Yankees have an awful schedule (2 games vs Boston, 3 vs the Jays and 3 vs the Rays), meanwhile Boston and Toronto, other than the direct matchups against the Yankees, have to play teams like Minnesota, Washington and the Orioles...

 

sure, NY have their fate in their hands (if they win most of the direct matchups, they are in), but it won't be easy at all for them to accomplish that mission...

 

in the NL, I fear the Cards could even make it through to the World Series, given the shape they're in right now...I wouldn't like to be the Dodgers, facing them in a single game Wild Card round (even if they play in LA)...

 

in any case, it's gonna be an interesting "long week" to end this year's RS...

Toronto has lost their first 2 against Minnesota, so clearly that's not helping them.  Right now the Yankees are 2 games ahead of the Blue Jays, so that's a bad starting point for Toronto.  The head to head will probably determine who gets the 2nd wild card.  And remember that the Rays, but that last series of the season, may have very little left to play for when they're facing the Yankees.

 

It's far from over, but huge upper hand to the Yankees based on the past few days, especially if they can get 1 of these next 2 in Boston

[Monzanator 4,768]

Yankees won two in a row vs Red Sox. The Rays series at the end of the season might not matter even if Rays won't have anything to play for.  Mariners are 1-11 down to Angels (sic!) while Dodgers could drop one to D-backs. If NL wild card turns out to be Dodgers vs Cardinals that would be quite a game! LAD pitching staff is something else when Kershaw is basically #4 guy on the depth chart!

[Monzanator 4,768]

Cardinals won 17th game in a row and eliminated Cincinnati Reds from NL wild card competition. Meanwhile Red Sox lost to the lowly Orioles and suddenly Mariners vs Athletics series looms very large indeed.

[Monzanator 4,768]

Red Sox lost two of three vs Orioles and drop to a tie with Mariners for the second AL wild card. Three game series left, Red Sox vs Nationals and Mariners vs Angels!

[Topicmaster1010 5,354]

First day of the final weekend series is over now and what a day it was especially me being a Blue Jays fan (even thought it would've been nice if the Red Sox lost too).

 

National League Scores (for games that matter)

San Diego 0-3 San Francisco

Milwaukee 6-8 LA Dodgers

 

American League Scores (for games that matter)

Baltimore 4-6 Toronto

Boston 4-2 Washington

Tampa Bay 4-3 NY Yankees

LA Angels 2-1 Seattle

 

Giants are still two games ahead of the Dodgers for the NL West division. The Dodgers will need to win both games and the Giants will have to lose both games to force a 163rd game of the season to decide who wins the division and who plays in the wild card game.

 

The American League is a lot more complex. 4 teams still alive for two wildcard playoff spots. The Yankees are currently one game ahead of the Red Sox who are one game ahead of both the Mariners and Blue Jays.

 

As long as the Yankees win one more game, they'll clinch one of the spots.

 

After the loss by Seattle tonight, the Boston Red Sox are in control and will clinch the 2nd spot if they win both of their remaining games. Should they lose one of those games, a loss by both Seattle and Toronto would still give them a playoff spot while two wins by those teams would force a tiebreaker game. Should the Red Sox lose both of their remaining games, they would be out of the playoffs entirely if Seattle and Toronto win both of their games while two red sox losses and a win by either Seattle or Toronto would force a tie breaker.

 

The Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays are tied but on the outside looking in. The best way for either of the two teams to get in would be to win both of their remaining games and hope the Red Sox lose at least one to force a 163rd game. To have sole possession of a wild card spot, the team would have to win both games, the Red Sox would have to lose both games and the other team they're tied with would have to lose at least one of the games.

 

 

 

[thepharoah 2,413]

the Blue Jays really made things hard for them , despite the fact they were in control of this WC saga 

[Monzanator 4,768]

Clayton Kershaw left the game last night with an arm issue but given his post-season struggles over the years it's perhaps not bad for the Dodgers he might be limited in October? He wasn't supposed to pitch in the probable wild card game anyway.