THROWING KNIVES: THIS IS NOT A STORY

by BD, Sports Show On Mute

All I've heard about since I woke up this afternoon is the damn Yankees-Red Sox situation in the AL East. Are we really that starved for headlines people? Last I checked every spot was up for grabs in the NL. Yet, we're talking about a race between two teams who are making it regardless. It's Thursday and that usually means some kind of gimmicky TK. But, taking into consideration my annoyance with "the race that isn't", I think I'll go that route. To make it as shtick-y as possible I'll take a look at the NL races as well. It's Leticia Cline again here at TK. All I know about her is that she's a finalists for Maxim's Hometown Hottie's competition.

Attack of the Race That Isn't!!
I realize that even discussing this topic I'm contributing to my own irritation but its got to be done. The Yankees are suddenly only 1.5 games back of the Red Sox and everyone and their brother and the WWL and elsewhere is having a field day discussing it. The sky is allegedly falling in Beantown and Red Sox are shaking in their knickers. Yet, either way both teams will be playing in October so why the discussion? That's simple, because it's the Red Sox and Yankees. If this were the Tigers and Indians or the Angels and Mariners we wouldn't be pounded with it every thirty seconds seconds. Sure, the Red Sox and Yankees are "national teams" if you ask most. But, the only reason for that are the band wagoning jerk offs that call themselves fans. Otherwise no one outside of New York would care that the Yanks have caught the Sox.

The only real story here is who each team would play. But, I haven't heard that mentioned yet. The only thing is that the Yanks are catching the Sox! That's it. Looking at it from a reasonable perspective it makes no difference right now. The Indians and Angels are tied for the best record and the Sox trail by .5 game. That means the Yanks trail by... A GAME! Making this whole discussion all the more meaningless. These four teams are all pretty evenly matched and the Yanks are probably worse off if they win the division. We all remember how well they've done opening at home the past few years.

The best match up for the Yankees is without a doubt the Indians. As they hold a 6-0 record against the Trbe this season and would likely knock them off with or without home-field advantage. That said, the Indians are playing about as well as they have all year and I'd still expect a decent series. On the contrary, the Angeles hold a 6-3 advantage over the Yanks this season. It's not surprising when you consider the Angels are the only team that Joe Torre doesn't have a winning record against in his career. I'd expect that to continue if the Yanks end up meeting the Angels to open the post-season.

The Red Sox have winning records against both Cleveland (5-2) and the Angels (6-3). Thus, it really doesn't matter who they play but they'd certainly be better off at home. where they racked up most of their wins against both teams. Winning the division, in my opinion, means a lot more to the Yanks as I expect the Angels to finish with the best record.

You see irrelevant this all is though? It's not necessary because the race is so close for best record that who wins the wild card versus the East is a moot point right now. So WWL it'd be nice if you could pull yourself from from Cashman's black eye's long enough to cover the legitimate aces in that other league.

NL West
Will you look at that. The Padres are within a game of Arizona but still lead the wild card and I've heard virtually nothing about it. How's it any different from whats going on in the East? It's not. But, the dreaded east coast bias doesn't care about those teams out west anyway, right? Sure, but they should. San Diego has some of the best pitching in all of MLB if they could only score runs they'd be unstoppable. Well, if they can fix Chris Young at least. The D-Backs meanwhile have the worst team batting average in the NL yet still manage to score 4 runs runs every night. They also feature the 4th best ERA in the NL while the Pads are sporting the #1 ERA in the league. I'd say if Milton Bradley comes back and hits the way he was before he got hurt again the Pads are the pick to pull off the West. But, the lose is taking the wildcard either way.

NL East
The Mets have watched their lead shrink to 2.5 games and as I detailed yesterday I think they're going to blow it. They lack a reliable setup man and their starting pitching is getting progressively worse. As bad as the Phillies pitching has been they've somehow been able to hang with the Mets for most of the season. Its a long shot but I'll take the Phills just because I want them to win.

NL Central
The biggest crap shoot of them all had three teams in it as recently as a week ago. Now, it's just the Cubs and Brewers fighting for the dubious crown of "worst team to make the playoffs" this year. The Cardinals turned it into a ring though so iot really won't mean much once October 2nd comes around. The Brewers are still hitting the ball out of the park but that's about all their doing and that's not going to win them enough games down the stretch. The Cubs lead the league in strikeouts and have the 2nd best ERA. All signs point to a Cubbie playoff berth but I wouldn't be shocked if they blew it.

Scoreboard - September 19th - 2007

MLB
National League
New York 8, Washington 4
Atlanta 5, Florida 1
Houston 5, Milwaukee 4 F/10
Chicago 3, Cincinnati 2
St. Louis 2, Philadelphia 1 F/10
Colorado 6, Los Angeles 5
Arizona 6, San Francisco 4
San Diego 5, Pittsburgh 3

American League
Cleveland 4, Detroit 2
Los Angeles 2, Tampa Bay 1
Seattle 9, Oakland 5
New York 2, Baltimore 1
Toronto 6, Boston 1
Chicago 7, Kansas City 0
Minnesota 4, Texas 2