With 16 games remaining on the regular season schedule, the race for the two American League Wild Card spots continues to captivate the attention of baseball fans across the country. The Athletics enter the home stretch as the favorites to secure the first Wild Card after taking two out of three from the Orioles at home. Even with this weekend's setback against Oakland, Baltimore remains in the mix to overtake the A's as it currently occupies the second Wild Card with the Angels lurking two and a half games behind.
Beyond the two top contenders, three teams (excluding current division leaders in New York, Chicago and Texas) have a healthy chance of sneaking into the playoffs by staking a claim to one of the Wild Card berths with a strong finish. The Rays, four games behind the Orioles for the second spot, are among the teams hoping to extend their season well into October and will rely on their talented young pitching staff to get there. Just behind Tampa Bay at four and a half games behind Baltimore, the Tigers may be more likely to catch the White Sox for the division title as only two games separate the teams.
1. Rangers 2. Orioles
I’m pulling for the Rays but they certainly didn’t help themselves this last week. The one thing that could help them out is the remaining schedule for both Oakland and Anaheim. Both teams have extremely tough schedules to close out the season.
1. Yankees; 2. Athletics.
Someone voted this down. Really?
yankee fan
Or A’s fans, since they probably expect to be the first wild card team
or someone who just enjoys voting things down fan
Looks like the fans have spoken lol
Yankees beat the A’s in Oakland in the wild card game.
Where’s Texas?
winning the division
Ya i don’t think a 3 game lead is a lock at all especially with 7 games left against Oakland. I’m not trying to be the ridiculous/naive A’s fan (as I would be surprised if the rangers don’t pull out a division title) but I think it will come down to the last series of the year with Texas at Oakland.
It could be ironic if just Baltimore makes the PO from the AL East and still hoping that happens.. Come on Oakland and Anaheim.. Keep winning…
I would love this except I don’t like the thought of the O’s being surrounded by the AL West teams that have had their way with them over the season
I voted the first option—and that may also determine who wins AL Manager of the Year.
There was a poll on MLB network two days ago that said 70% Buck Showalter and 14% Bob Melvin. I find that to be more ridiculous than giving the AL Cy Young to Ricky Romero.
Well the Orioles have sucked for a long time, and this year there were ZERO expectations. I highly doubt the A’s were looking at 75 wins BEST CASE before the season started.
I remember before the season started, one expert predicted the A’s to be the 28th best team in baseball. I just Googled “2012 MLB predictions” and found the Orioles predicted roughly 64-72 wins and the A’s roughly 68-70 wins. No way either manager should have more than a few percentage points more than the other IMO. Both have done amazingly well.
Too bad there can’t be co-winners. Although, maybe they’d consider it if both teams ended up in the ALCS?
I agree. I can’t think of a better time than now.
They awarded co-Cy Youngs in the 60’s right? Cuellar and McClain I believe, and I think there have been co-ROYs
They can be co-winners if their vote point total (5 for a 1st vote, 3 for a 2nd, 1 for a 3rd) is the same. Happened with Joe Torre and Johnny Oates in 1996.
Also, the ballots are submitted right after the regular season, so whatever happens in the playoffs is irrelevant.
Too bad two can’t win it, because I think they both deserve it.
As I mentioned, they can both win it but only if they tied in total points, which probably will not happen.
O’s win AL East, A’s win AL West, Rangers 1st WC and Yanks 2nd WC
That is based on the performance of all four teams lately. Texas hasn’t been bad, but the A’s are riding a tsunami of momentum.
how about white sox vs A’s
The way I see it the yanks, O’s, A’s, and Rangers are close to being locks for the playoffs. Which ones get the division title and which ones get the WC spots… well I’ll take the cheap way out and say ask me next week.
Other. 1. Rangers, 2. Yankees
I didn’t see rangers vs orioles, that’s my choice
Orioles, Athletics.
As Much as I want us to get division we will somehow mess it up.
I think the Athletics have the toughest schedule remaining so thats why I have the Orioles as 1st WC.
I voted other. The divisions are way too close for at least one not to change hands.
Os 1 game back of yanks, Tigers 2 game back of White sox, and A’s 3 games back of rangers. it is more likely that division leaders change than WC leaders at this point.
I expect Selig to get it into his small head to include a 3rd wild card
Well, I’m hoping it’s 1. Athletics and 2. Rays with O’s getting the division. Would love to see the Yankees not make it. This is wishful thinking though. Just checked out team statistics and Oakland and Tampa Bay are closer than you’d believe. Team ERA is nearly the same, as well as team batting average. Tampa actually has the best pitching in MLB, with A’s being second. It’s just too bad that the Rays are in the AL East because compared to Oakland, they’re not much different statistically. Both would be scary to face in the postseason.
Either way, I project the Yankees to lose in the ALDS or earlier. That team just doesn’t have the pitching and the long balls won’t last.
“the long balls won’t last.” Why not? If they lost for NY will they last for baltimore and chicago who are more dependent on it? If the yankees dont have the pitching do the rangers, whitesox, or oriolles have it? Even if the A’s do make it their rotation has a fip of 3.91. So im not really scared about any teams rotation except the nationals.
Essentially, the Yankees’ offense won’t amount to the pitching they have. Throw out all the stats you want about Oakland, but they haven the best pitching out of all AL postseason teams. Orioles have great pitching now too. Both rosters have changed since day 1, so their pitching stats over the course of a season are misleading. Yankees also have injuries which slow down their pitching. I agree that the White Sox won’t get far, and the Rangers are on par with the Yankees in that they have mediocre starters, but great relief pitching. It’s a toss up, but I see better pitching shutting down Yankee offense.
“Orioles have great pitching now too.” No they dont I’m gonna assume your allegiance to boston is clouding your judgement…
Did you check out their bullpen? Their starters may not be much better than New York’s, but their bullpen is great. And their starters are better than they were on the first day of the season.
O’s are taking the AL East Division, A’s will knock out NYY when NYY travels to OAK for one game playoff. You heard it here first.
I see the Tigers overtaking the White Sox for the division and pushing the White Sox out of the playoffs. The Rangers and Yankees are probably going to hold onto their own divisions although I’d love to see the Orioles take down the Evil Empire and win the division. The Angels are just too stacked to count em out of not making the playoffs altogether. So I’d say its a toss up between the A’s O’s and Halo’s gettin the last two WC spots.
Yankees for the wild card isn’t a possibility? The Orioles were tied with them for the division entering play today.