It’s Monday which means there’s fresh MLB Power Rankings to start the 25th week of the season.
Orioles fans are mad but I’ve always said that Top 3 is pretty good.
I’ll explain more in a minute.
For now, let’s talk about playoffs.
Opposite that, the AL West and AL East are still very much in contention.
The Rangers bounced back from a Labor Day slump and look to be on track.
The Astros have the best pedigree in the AL.
The Mariners are seemingly destined for the playoffs.
And remarkably, there’s a world where all 3 make the playoffs.
Of course that would require the Blue Jays to fuck up down the stretch.
That’s all but guaranteed because Toronto always blows it.
Right now, they’re .5 and 1.5 games up on the Rangers and Mariners respectively.
Mix in the Orioles/Rays, and that’s 5 AL playoff spots to be decided by 6 teams.
will play a 3-game series in Minnesota.
After that, we don’t know shit.
Will the Rays catch the Orioles?
They played 4-games this past weekend and it certainly looked like a playoff atmosphere.
The Orioles could have easily dropped 3 of 4 after losing the first 2 at home.
Call me old fashioned, but I love the uncertainty this late in the year.
Especially with the new playoff format not really having any clear advantages YET.
Like, we don’t know if it’s better to be a 4-seed or a 6-seed.
Or would you rather play the Brewers/Twins on the road for the right to play the #2 seed?
There’s great arguments on both sides.
One thing we’re not arguing about is the top of the NL bracket.
In the AL - it’s really just one of the AL West teams or the Blue Jays.
Incredibly - The National League playoffs should come down to the last day of the season.
Klemmer and I are going to sort this out the best we can on Wednesdays show.
Also, no St. Louis Cardinals so that’s nice.
Even after a 2-2 series, the Raysstilllooked like the better team in the aggregate.
Razor thin margin but it’s a margin nonetheless and someone has to be 2.
So we got bold and picked the Rays.
Bright side is we could be wrong and you could be right, which I imagine feels good.
Cross that bridge when you get there.
- The Brewers are so good this time of year.
They probably have the best 1-2-3 + closer in the NL now that we know Brandon Woodruff looks brilliant.
Peralta just got his 200th K and Corbin Burnes is Corbin Burnes.
I would be inclined to bet with, not again Corbin Burnes in October.
- There’s some good teams that don’t get any playing time this week on the show.
That’s not because they suck or won’t be in the playoffs.
In fact 3 of these clubs could easily make October.
Really it’s just a programming thing and we haven’t yet allocated time for honorable mention.
Although now that I throw in this out, that seems appropriate.
- The Yankees got talked about this week.
Let’s get crazy and say they can still make it.
Weirder things have happened.
- The Dodgers deserve a pitching staff that can be somewhat competitive in the playoffs.
That seems further and further away from being a reality, which obviously blows.
Is it possible to ride two 1st ballot, generationally significant players to a pennant?
Even with Bobby Miller taking the ball and Clayton Kershaw throwing 84?
Put a bet on the Phillies to win the World Series.
Normally I’d just sayto makethe WS, but I’m convinced the NL wins the whole thing.
It’s Braves or a club playing good enough to beat the Braves, which is essentially perfect baseball.
The Phillies stack up nicely and I think you guys should know that.
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