MLB Playoffs

Yankee fans were unhappy—to say the least—on Monday night, when the Yankees surrendered first place to the Rays for the first time since August 3. Tuesday night, the Yankees got first place back, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Amidst all that anger came an interesting thought: what if, by some chance, the Yankees didn’t win the division?

October can't come any sooner for fans of the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers. The American League has little to no excitement on the postseason hunt in September with teams like the Red Sox and White Sox playing for any realistic hope that just isn't there to be had. 

Three weeks ago, all three of the teams listed in the headline were in first place. A couple of them were in somewhat commanding position. The Texas Rangers had an eight-game lead at one point, the San Diego Padres had a lead of six-and-a-half games, while the Atlanta Braves had a three-game lead.

But all three teams have struggled at some point over these last three weeks.

Boy, this season went by fast.

Seems like just yesterday that the Mariners were gearing up to take the league by storm with lights-out pitching and defense, and the Padres were preparing to field offers for Adrian Gonzalez. Those were the days.

As fantasy leagues wind down and head into playoff mode, most owners generally have similar goals in mind at this juncture.

Some owners are right smack in the middle of a battle for playoff position while others are looking forward to next season and the opportunity to start over. What you can expect to find in this week’s edition is a smattering of young players trying to impress their club and hopefully cement a spot on next year’s big league team.

The San Francisco Giants did three significant things during their humongous four-game series against the San Diego Padres. Call it a pleasant coincidence that the team also won three of the weekend contests.

By taking three of four in Petco Park, the good guys exorcised some serious demons in a personal house of horrors. Since the start of the 2009 campaign, the Giants had only won three of the last 14 contests played in the Friars' home. You have to imagine the lads enjoyed doubling a two-year win total in four days.

81-60. That is the best record in the National League to date and it is currently boasted by the 2008 and 2009 National League Champions and 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

What is it that led the Phillies to back-to-back NL championships and has now led them to the National League's best overall record with only 21 games left in the season? The answer is sheer toughness.

What a difference a year makes.

After two consecutive trips to the NLCS in 2008 and 2009, Dodgers fans had even higher hopes for the 2010 season.

Folks in Dodgertown knew that the divorce between Frank and Jamie McCourt would have some type of effect on the organization, but nobody guessed the 2010 campaign would turn into a struggle on the field.

Before our very eyes, the Giants are only one game back of the Padres.

This comes only two weeks after trailing San Diego by six games in the division.

The biggest change in the Giants' fortunes was not Tim Lincecum finding his composure once more. It was not Juan Uribe's bat coming alive in September.

As the calendar turned to September, the Padres forgot how to win.

The Padres had lost 10 straight games before beating the Dodgers 4-2 on Monday night.

Perhaps you remember several years ago when rock band Green Day released their hit album American Idiot (I happen to because it was the first one I ever bought). Anyway, one of the songs was titled “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” As the title suggests, the song yearns for the supposedly dreadful month to end and for October to begin.

Well, Billie Joe Armstrong must not be a huge baseball fan, because September on the diamond is epic.