Pirates in First on September First

It is the first day of the last month of the regular season in major league baseball. While I still think the National League playoffs/tournament participants are set, of course there is the possibility of that changing.

Certainly there is a contest for seeding in the form of the NL Central race where the winner will avoid the one game “play in” (talk about a tournament term— it still bothers me a great deal that there are wild card teams in baseball).

As September baseball starts, it is the upstart Pittsburgh Pirates, who lead the St. Louis Cardinals by one game and the Cincinnati Reds by three and a half games in the division. All three very likely will make the post season.

After picking up Marlon Byrd and John Buck earlier in the week, Pittsburgh now has gained the services of 2006 American League MVP, Justin Morneau from the Minnesota Twins.

If the season ended before play starts today, there would be games between the Pirates and the Los Angeles Dodgers on the exact 39 year anniversary of their NLCS clashes on October 5th and 6th, 1974.

Those would only be quarterfinals, in 1974 they were semi finals. Alas, one should not look back all that often, and looking ahead, there is much baseball left to be played.