American League Review

The Detroit Tigers, top heavy favorites to win the AL Central when the season began almost certainly will end up winning it. The Tigers had a (6-1) week while the White Sox continued a collapse that has seen them lose 10 of 12 games (2-5 this week at home) leaving Detroit with a magic number of 1 to clinch a second straight Central Title. The Tigers have three games in Kansas City vs the Royals while the White Sox go to Cleveland to face the Indians.

The Texas Rangers got two home runs and six rbis from catcher Mike Napoli in a big (8-7) win over the Angels in the second game of a home day/night doubleheader. The big win leaves Texas two games ahead of the Oakland A’s in the AL West. The teams play a three game series in Oakland. Thus the A’s can still win the division but only if they win all three games vs the Rangers.

The closest divisional or playoff race is in the AL East where the New York Yankees and the 100 to 1 shot, Baltimore Orioles are tied with three games left. On Sunday, it appeared the Orioles under Buck Showalter would finally go ahead of the Yankees when they led big vs the Red Sox, whom they would go on to sweep while the Toronto Blue Jays had a (5-1) lead after five innings vs the Yankees. However, the Yankees rallied for a (9-6) win and the seeming advantage as the Bombers host the Boston Red Sox while the Orioles go to Tampa to face the Rays in the season’s final three games. When Showalter managed the 1993 Yankees, his team, despite numerous opportunities, never went ahead in the AL East and so far, now managing against the Yankees, the same thing has happened.

The win by Texas in the Sunday nightcap clinched playoff berths for the Yankees (their fourth straight and 17th in the 18 seasons since failing in 1993, as stated above), the Rangers (a third straight) and Orioles who will be making their first post season appearance since 1997. The Tigers and A’s, who clashed in a great ALCS 40 years ago, each have magic numbers of one to gain entry into the post-season. Both the Rays and Angels need to win all three of their games while the A’s would have to lose all three of their games just to get into a one game playoff for a chance at another one game playoff.

Summing up, the Tigers almost certainly will be the three seed. The Rangers need one win to win the division and have a magic number of three vs the Yankees to be the A.L. one seed. Their magic number vs the Orioles to be the one seed is two. The Yankees have the tie breaker vs Texas. Stay tuned.