Postseason Picture Sep 21
September 21st 2010 13:05
By Mrk Newman of MLB.com
It's time to put some champagne on ice.
Clinch season has arrived.
Minnesota's magic number is down to two, so keep a close eye on the American League Central on Tuesday night. The Twins are home for an 8:10 ET game against Cleveland, and if they win that one, expect a lot of Twins fans to be staying up late to watch the tumbling White Sox play at 10:05 ET in Oakland. Trevor Cahill vs. Mark Buerhle is a great matchup any time of the season, and especially if that decides the first clincher.
Here's something else the Twins could accomplish: If they win and the Yankees lose to the Rays in the second game of that big AL East series, then Minnesota, at 91-60, would have a share of baseball's best record with New York.
If the Twins do clinch, the question is whether manager Ron Gardenhire would rest regulars for a long two weeks ... or play as if you haven't won anything until you clinched best overall league record. It would be quite a change for a club accustomed to division tiebreaker requirements.
National League
Now that the three NL West contenders are all rested up for their forthcoming endurance race after taking Monday off, it's time for them to resume the chase with three road games all against teams in the bottom half of the standings -- and with just 1 1/2 games separating the Giants in first place and the Rockies in third.
If three clubs are tied for first place in the division with an identical winning percentage at the end of the regular season, then the tie is broken by designating the clubs as "A," "B," and "C," with selection of those designations based on the clubs' records against one another. Tiebreaking games would then be played as follows:
• Club A would host club B on Monday, Oct. 4.
• The winner of the A vs. B game would then host club C on Tuesday, Oct. 5.
• The winner of the A/B vs. C game would be declared division champion.
NL West three-way records: Colorado is a combined 20-13 (.606) vs. SD/SF; San Diego is a combined 16-17 (.485) vs. SF/COL; and San Francisco is a combined 12-18 (.400) vs. SD/COL. Thus if it's a three-way division tie, Colorado would be Club A. Designation of B and C would be pending further meetings this season. The Giants could get their record within the group to 18-18 if they sweep the Rockies at Coors Field next weekend and sweep the Padres at home on the regular season's final weekend. The Padres could push their record in the group to 19-17 if they sweep that last series at San Francisco.
As for head-to-head, the Rockies won the season series from the Padres, 12-6; the Rockies lead the Giants, 8-7; and the Padres won the season series from the Giants, 10-5.
Now they go back to work to try to sort out this whole mess. The Giants are at Wrigley Field to play the Cubs at 8:05 ET tonight. The Padres are a half-game behind and play at Dodger Stadium at 10:10 ET. The Rockies are 1 1/2 games back and at Arizona at 9:40 ET.
The postseason starts Oct. 6 on TBS with two American League Division Series and one NL Division Series, followed a day later by the opener of the other NLDS. So whatever happens here on out, there is a strong possibility that the NL West could produce some bonus baseball. The Giants will get one more day off next Monday, but the Padres and Rockies are playing through.
If the postseason started today ...
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Rangers (4) at Yankees (1)
Rays (Wild Card) at Twins (3)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Giants (3) at Phillies (1)
Braves (Wild Card) at Reds (2)
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