And man do I miss a baseball pennant race. All those years that the Orioles contended for and won pennants during the late September part of the ball season sure spoiled me. I remember how I would fall asleep after the Orioles had won their game and then awaken in the middle of the night to see if the team(s) that they were competing against had won or lost their contest. On many nights the result of that game would determine whether or not I went back to sleep.
This year however, there are no good pennant races in the six MLB Divisions. Of the 6 MLB Divisions, 4 of them are runaways with the lead teams several games ahead of the number 2 team.
Our Washington Nationals are one of these runaway leaders. The Nationals have the luxury of resting folks, getting others well (you Bryce) and just gearing up for post-season which has been their Achilles for some years now. It is looking like the Nationals in the playoffs will have to defeat the Cubs and then the Dodgers if they are to advance to the World Series. They can rest now but come October they better be balling.
Only 2 pennant races have been anywhere near competitive as the Red Sox are 5 games up on the Yankees and the Cubs lead the Cards 5.5 games. Other than those two races, the only other September action is for the Number 2 Wild Card Spot in both Leagues. Usually the Orioles are in the mix for at least a Wild Card spot but this year they just aren’t playing well enough to even hope for that. The Orioles are so far out of it that not even Trumpenezer could lie about how good they are doing. Yep, the O’s are playing that badly having lost 7 of their last 10 games.
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| http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/postseason-picture/ |
Here is an interesting scheduling twist for you: the Red Sox will conclude their season with a four game series in Fenway against the Houston Astros. The way the playoffs are now shaping up, it looks like the Red Sox and Astros will then go head to head in the first round a couple days after the season ends. They should be very familiar with each other by that time.
Bottom line, I don’t care if the O’s are in it or not, I am going up tonite to see them play as Caitie and Brady will be taking their dear old Dads to the ballgame. In a full circle way, Mickey and I are being rewarded for all those years that we took our kids to O’s games. A pennant race is not mandatory for having a good time at the ballpark.
And speaking of diamonds…..