For most teams, Monday night was the 10th-to-last game of the season. And with 10 games to go, four division titles, four wild cards, and each league's home field advantage are all still in play. Only the NL Central and the NL West have been won so far, by the Reds and Giants respectively--though those teams are also fighting for home field advantage. No one is at ease just yet. Here's a roundup of what happened on Monday and what it means:
In the AL Central, we saw perhaps the most important swing of the 2012 season, signalling the true arrival of the stretch run. The Chicago White Sox were losers of five straight heading into a matchup with the Indians, and the Detroit Tigers had already won behind Justin Verlander against the Royals, narrowing Chicago's lead in the division to a mere half-game. White Sox ace Chris Sale allowed a two-run homer in the sixth inning, giving the Indians a 3-1 lead, and things were looking very bad. But in the bottom of the frame, Adam Dunn cranked his 40th homer of the year, narrowing the lead to 3-2. In the bottom of the 8th, with two men on and two outs and the Sox still down by one, Dunn stepped to the plate again and hit an 0-2 pitch out of the park for a game-winning three-run homer. The Sox stay a game up on the Tigers in their biggest win of the season.
In the AL East, the Baltimore Orioles won the first game of a doubleheader with the woeful Blue Jays, and entered the nightcap with a chance to gain on the Yankees against the terrible Ricky Romero. It's tough to expect any team to win two games in a day, but the Orioles maybe should have. They let the game get away in the sixth, when, trailing by a run, they failed to score with the bases loaded and nobody out, and the Jays responded with a two-out grand slam in the following inning. The Orioles lost 9-5 in the kind of game that they usually win. They also gave Ricky Romero his first victory since June 22nd (!!!). Meanwhile, the New York Yankees only played one game, beating the Twins 6-3 behind six shutout innings from Andy Pettitte and four home runs. They lead the Orioles by two in the loss column, the first time the two teams have been separated by more than one game in the standings in three weeks. Remarkably close race here. The Tampa Bay Rays, winners of five straight and three games back in the wild card, were idle as they prepare for a series with the Red Sox.
In the AL West, the Oakland Athletics lost on a walkoff for the third time in four games. They were beaten by Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers, who was the Adam Dunn of this game by hitting the game-tying two-run homer in the 7th and the walkoff single in the 9th. Texas is closer to clinching the AL West; they hold a five-game lead. The A's lead in the second wild card shrinks to two games on the Los Angeles Angels, who had an off day to travel to Seattle. The Angels have a real shot at sneaking in because the A's still have six remaining games against the Rangers.
In the National League, there were only two games with playoff implications. The Washington Nationals blew out the Milwaukee Brewers 12-2, reducing their magic number to win the NL East to five. The Brew Crew can't afford more losses from here on out; they're 3.5 games out in the second wild card, tied with the idle Los Angeles Dodgers. The second wild card leader, the St. Louis Cardinals, took care of business against the Astros, winning 6-1 to maintain that 3.5 game lead. And what about the Pittsburgh Pirates? Their stunning fall continued, losing 6-2 to the Mets and sending them 3 games under .500. A sad collapse for a team that once led the NL Central.
The Houston Astros, meanwhile, are winning the Race to the Playoffs In 2017. By falling to the Cardinals, they secured the 1st overall pick in next year's draft. At the very least, the Astros are really really good at losing.
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