American League Update

There are six days left in the regular season and though it pains me to do so, let’s look at the race for the two wild card positions in the American League.

Having just swept the Baltimore Orioles, all but eliminating Lee Lowenfish’s favorite team, the Tampa Rays lead the Cleveland Indians by one game in the race for the top wild card position.

The Indians, in turn, lead the Texas Rangers by one game for the second spot and tournament qualification.

The division winners are set. The Boston Red Sox and Oakland A’s have clinched titles while the Detroit Tigers have a magic number of 2 for a third straight A.L. Central title.

In the battle for better tournament seeding, the Red Sox lead the A’s by one game with the tiebreaker uncertain. At this point, since the teams split the season series it will come down to which team has a better divisional record.

Starting the week Boston is (43-30) in its division while Oakland is (42 -29). Detroit almost certainly will be the third seed and open the division series either in Oakland or Boston.