As baseball season winds down, an unusual number of teams harbor postseason dreams.
By TOM JONES
Published September 9, 2003
There is no such thing as a routine ground ball in baseball. Not when the calendar reads September. Not when the standings are crammed tighter than a New York subway at rush hour.
At this time of year, every pitch is crucial. Every at-bat is meaningful. A miss-ed sign, a bad hop, a bum call can decide who plays baseball on television in October and who watches television. A mere two-game losing streak is cause for panic. A one-game winning streak helps you sleep better - but for just another day.
One day, the standings read one way. Then 24 hours later, it has been turned upside down. The teams look as if their names were put in a jar, shaken up and pulled out in a different order.
"For the teams in the race, there is no better time of the year," Devil Rays shortstop Julio Lugo said. "Every game, there is a buzz. The crowd is into it. The players are into it. This is why you play the game."
Lugo has been in the heat of a pennant race with Houston.
"You live and die every day," Lugo said. "You win, and everything is great. You can't wait to play again. You want to play right now. You lose a game, and it feels so depressing. And the games themselves are so fun to play."
Usually this time of year there is one or, if we're lucky, two decent races going on. This season? Seems like half the organized baseball teams in the world have a shot at the postseason. You know it's a crazy baseball season when both Chicago teams are in the running and a Boston-Cubs World Series is possible.
The National League wild-card race looks like a list of the National League. Every team, it seems, remains alive. That includes half the teams in the Central, which remains up for grabs.
The AL East has become a race in the past week and the AL West has been a race all season. The teams that eventually lose those divisions remain alive for a wild-card spot.
The AL Central is made up of mediocre teams, but evenly matched mediocre teams, meaning another tight race.
There are 19 days left in the season, and it's likely all 19 will be needed to decide a race. Or two. Or three. Here's how it all breaks down:
NL CENTRAL: Chicago, Houston and St. Louis are separated by 11/2 games.
The edge might belong to the Cubs. They play 17 of their last 19 games against teams with losing records. They have road series against Milwaukee, Montreal (in San Juan), Pittsburgh and Cincinnati and home series against Cincinnati, the Mets and Pittsburgh.
NL WILD CARD: Seven teams are in the mix, but one of those will win the Central and the seventh, Montreal, is starting to fade.
The focus has been on Philadelphia and Florida, and those teams have six games against one another. If they're busy knocking themselves off, the Dodgers, who have hung around all season, might slip in the door. But all the Dodgers' remaining games are against their own division (the NL West), and Los Angeles is 24-30 against the West.
AL EAST: The Red Sox made it a race again after taking two of three against the Yankees in New York over the weekend. But the Yanks might have the edge again now that captain Derek Jeter is back in the lineup.
AL CENTRAL: The Royals were the feel-good story for a while, but they're feeling bad now, having slipped behind the Twins and White Sox. Chicago has the tougher road. Besides six games against the Twins, the White Sox also have dates against the Red Sox and Yankees and a three-game series at Kansas City to finish the season.
AL WEST: Two teams are fighting for one spot and neither is the defending champion Angels. The Mariners are in a hitting slump, but Oakland's pitching has been average of late.
"I think it's going to be a dogfight all the way through," said Rays manager Lou Piniella, the former Mariners skipper. "I think that race won't be decided to well into the last week of the season. I see it pretty darn equal. I think Seattle will get a second wind here and start playing the way they're capable of playing."
This race could be the most fun because these teams play each other six times in the final nine days of the season. The winner gets the division. The loser likely loses its wild-card spot to the Red Sox or Yankees.
"There's nothing better in baseball," Lugo said, "than spending the last month playing games that mean so much. It's what baseball is all about."
