The month of September is almost upon us, and in Major League Baseball, that welcomes the heart of the stretch drive. The final month of the regular season is the time for sorting out the various sundry playoff races and postseason berths, and that means a closer look at the remaining schedule is in order. Let's do that now with an eye toward which series over the final four weeks or so of the regular season will determine who makes the postseason and who gets the two available first-round byes in each league -- that is, the biggest series of September.
For those squadrons right on the edge, every game is of course important. In this exercise, though, we're focusing on those games and series in which both sides have something to play for. Irrelevant tomato cans are not welcome beyond this point, which means the series we highlight must involve teams in playoff position or within playoff position going into the slate for Monday, Aug. 31.
On that front, much is at stake. Thanks in substantial measure to the overly permissive nature of the race for the third wild-card spot in the American League, a number of otherwise forgettable squads are very much in the mix for a playoff berth. Consider the current standings on that front: Every team above is presently below .500, except for Cleveland, which is 69-68 at this writing.
Elsewhere, the AL West is still very much in play because of the low bar in place, with the Astros, Mariners, and Rangers all within spitting distance of first place. The AL Central is also still in play. As for the senior circuit, there's less drama, but on the wild card front you've essentially got four teams -- the Phillies (in the second spot), Padres (in the third spot), Diamondbacks and Marlins -- dueling for the last two postseason berths.
As well, seeding is very much in play in the NL. The top two division winners in each league enjoy a first-round bye straight to the Division Series. At the moment, there's a particularly compelling duel between the NL West-leading Dodgers – the back-to-back reigning World Series champs – and the NL East-leading Braves for the second seed and final bye on the NL side.
Now for the NL third wild card standings: And so on. Now let's have a look at the series that figure to matter most in the month ahead. We'll proceed in thrilling chronological order, just like the phone book.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
