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As one of the longest American professional sports seasons comes to a close each September, an evident playoff picture becomes clearer for the postseason in October. The Major League Baseball’s 2010 season play is all but finished with one week remaining.
In the past month, the Tampa Bay Rays (93-61) have inched closer to the AL East crown while the Minnesota Twins (92-62) have captured the AL Central. After an 11-year absence from the postseason, the Texas Rangers clinched the AL West pennant Saturday with a 4-3 win over division rival Oakland (75-79).
In the NL, the Philadelphia Phillies (93-62) and Cincinnati Reds (86-69) both captured pennant titles in the East and Central divisions, respectively.
The wild card spot for both leagues still remains up for grabs.
The NL currently has a three-team race for the wild card spot between the San Diego Padres (87-67), San Francisco Giants (87-68) and Atlanta Braves (87-68). The NL West is yet to be crowned with a champion with San Diego and San Francisco both in the hunt. If the season were to end Sunday, the Padres would clinch the AL West while the Giants would steal the wild card spot from the Braves.
The AL East’s New York Yankees (92-63) look to be the favorite to attain a wild card spot for the postseason but are closely followed by the Boston Red Sox who are 5½ games behind as of Saturday.
Boston’s chances of clinching the AL wild card spot are very slim with a shortage of games remaining in the regular season but there is still a glimmer of hope. As of Saturday, New York and Boston’s rivaled regular season series is tied at 7-7.
The reigning World Series champions and Boston are currently in a three game series until Sunday, Sept. 26 and will later play another three-game series next weekend from Oct. 1 through Oct. 3.
