With the American League Playoff spots pretty much locked up except for the AL Central, I am going to look at the NL Playoff race for the rest of this season. Fetch is giving us great posts in regards to the odds of the teams but I want to break that out more and give you the team’s schedules and what they need to do to win.
NL East
1. Mets (83-66) Games left 13.
Right now the Mets are a scant .5 game (1 in the loss) in front of the second place Phillies. After losing last night’s game to the Nationals, they have three more games left in Washington. Then 3 in Atlanta. After that they return home for the season with 4 against the Cubs and 3 against the Marlins. They have no scheduled off days remaining.
The Met bullpen has been nothing if not a collective torture of the soul. They are going to be the one area of this team we will look back on after this season is over and say, “If it wasn’t for them, they would have won this division by 10 games.” But of course we can’t change the past we can only look towards the future. On paper, the next six games are very winnable. The Mets toss out Pelfrey, Brandon Knight and Johan Santana for the rest of the series in Washington. They have to go 5-1 the rest of this road trip to make it a success. At home, the Cubs are the Wild Card. They are at a Magic Number of 6 now so they might roll into Shea resting everyone for the Playoffs. The Marlins are a pain in my balls so of course they will make the Mets work. Prediciton 10-3 to end the season.
2. Phillies (83-67) .5GB in East. Tied for Wild Card lead. 12 Games remaining.
The Phillies are on the road for 3 in Atlanta followed by 3 in Florida. They return home for 3 with Atlanta and end the season with 3 with the Nationals. They have one remaining scheduled off day.
The Phillies have turned up the heat the last week. After losing 2 of 3 to the Marlins they swept the Brewers to rally from four games back in the Wild Card to a first place tie. Atlanta and the Marlins may be looking to play spoiler but the Phillies are 10-2 against the Braves so that might be a tall order. The Marlins though are 10-6 against the Phillies so that may be a road block towards winning the division. With Brett Myers, Jamie Moyer and Cole Hamels performing pretty well and Brad Lidge closing as well as their big time lineup, they should not have major issues for the rest of the season. Prediction 9-3.
NL Central
1. Cubs (90-58) 14 games Remaining.
The Cubs play 3 at home against Milwaukee and 3 vs. St Louis. They then go on the road for 4 against the Mets and 3 in Milwaukee. They finish the season with one game in Houston as a make up for last weekend. They have no remaining off days.
The Cubs magic number is 6. They are all but assured the 1 seed in the playoffs. What is interesting is how they decide to play after they clinch. They can effect the fates of the Mets and the Brewers playing 10 of their last 14 against them. If they sweep the Brewers this week, they clinch the NL Central. After that or later this weekend, do they start resting players? Do they not start Z and Harden? Does this give the Mets an advantage or do they play this out and make things fair? I don’t blame the Cubs for resting guys. It is their right. But it will in effect the playoff race for both the NL East and the Wild Card. Prediciton 8-6.
2. Brewers (83-67) 8GB in Central. Tied for Wild Card Lead. 12 Games remaining.
The Brewers have 3 in Chicago and 3 in Cinncinnati. They go home to finish the season with 3 against the Pirates and 3 against the Cubs. They have 1 remaining off day.
The Brewers are a mess. They have lost 12 of their last 20 games. They got swept by the Phillies to give away a four game lead in the Wild Card and yesterday they fire their manager, Ned Yost, and replace him with Dale Sveum. Hardly a confidence boost. They have a tough schedule remaining with the Cubs looking to clinch, the gritty Reds looking to spoil, and the Pirates looking to go home very soon. OK that one is easy. But they have the last series of the year against the Cubs who may or may not show up. I just don’t like the way this team is playing. It is on thing to have one component of your team be shaky. It is another to have all the components of your team be shaky. Prediction 6-6.
3. Astros (80-69) 10.5GB in the Central. 2.5GB in the WIld Card. 13 Games remaining.
The Astros have 3 games in Florida and 3 games in Pittsburgh. They return home for 3 against the Reds and 3 against the Braves. They have their last game against the Cubs in the make up at home. They have one off day remaining.
The Astros got hosed by Major League Baseball. I understand Hurricane Ike was to blame as well, but for Bud Selig to put the last two games 2 hours from the North side of Chicago is ridiculous. They also had to deal with a Carlos Zambrano no-hitter and a Ted Lilly one hitter. That makes things very difficult to end this season. But then again they were in a huge hole in August and overcame that so I think they are still alive and kicking. They have Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman. They have a red hot Ty Wigginton to pick up some El Caballo slack. But unfortunately they are going to have to be close to perfect to even tie for the Wild Card. That is not possible. Prediciton 9-4.
NL West
1. Dodgers (78-72) 12 Games remaining
The Dodgers play 3 more in Pittsburgh then go home for 3 against the Giants and 3 against the Padres and finish off the year with 3 in San Francisco. They have 1 off day remaining.
The Dodgers Magic Number is 9. The D-Bags are playing like shit and the Dodgers have an easy ass schedule. They are going to the playoffs. Prediction 9-4.
2. Diamondbacks (73-76) 4.5GB in the West. They are 9.5GB in the Wild Card. They have 13 games remaining.
The D-Bags have 3 more at home against the Giants and then go on the road for 3 against the Rockies and 4 against the Cardinals. They come home to finish the season with 3 against the Rockies. They have no more off days scheduled.
The team is under .500. That is pathetic. This team has no chance. I humored this for Hef’s sake. They will not be discussed in future posts unless a miracle happens. Prediction 7-6.
So my season ending predictions are as follows:
East: Mets 93-69
Central: Cubs 98-64
West: Dodgers 87-76
Wild Card: Phillies 92-70
Official clown prediction:
East: Phillies
Central: the lovable Cubbies who are so awesome and I can’t even fathom making a disrespectful joke about them or their fans EvaR!
West: Doyers
Wild Card: Astros
Book it.
The Phillies schedule is too easy. I’m hoping the pass the dormant Mets and the Brewers pass the Mets also for the Wild Card.
stigs..I agree with the easy part..but the Nats and Marlins have given the Phillies trouble all year and I made that same statement last year when the Mets have their last 12 games against the Nats and Marlins…let’s see how it plays out.
AAAA team, AAAA team, Manny, AAAA team
winner gets swept by Anaheim or Boston
so you’re saying there’s a chance??!!!!!!!!!!
The Cubs should be Cobra Kai over the next two weeks and sweep the leg of both the Mets and Brewers
i stole that line first.
I can’t see Pinella resting all his players two weeks before the playoffs are going to start. The only guys who are going to get a rest are the pitchers. If the bats are on a hot streak, Lou won’t rest them.
rest? it is baseball. you don’t need rest.
SG…that is really what I was looking at…Wood, Marmol, ZXarslghlhslgflgflka, Z and Harden could use the rest…and guys like Lee, Soriano and Ramirez will get a day or two off
I agree with you on Z and Harden, but not with Wood and Marmol. Bad things happen when Woody and Marmol go more than five days without playing a game (especially for Wood). I think the clincher game for the Cubs will be played in New York.
They only have a magic number of 6…and combo of 6 Cub wins and Brewer losses..you think it will take a week to make that happen? Any win against the brewers knocks off two.
Ohhh, totally forgot Brewers losses factor into that equation. In that case, yes, they’ll get to six at home. I better see a Cubs win tonight from my seat in the bleachers. You know spence, the bleachers that they completely renovated two years ago.
note to self: never mention anything about chicago ever again in life.
Perfect Strangers is my favorite shoe
/Spencer
what the hell does that even mean?
It was based in Chicago…you are atoning for your sins
I also love ER and Chicago Hope
/Spencer atoning for his sins
deep dish pizza sucks
this is funny…when the cubs play well cub haters have to invent new reasons to hate the cubs
…looking at you spencer
these comments today show us all how truly insecure Cubs fans are. thanks for the lesson SG and Mikey.
we arent insecure…the fact is…unlike the brewers which only people in wiscinson give a shit about…cubs fans tend to be like the yankees without the hardware…fans all over the country
people can say the yankees suck and the yankees in turn can say – “yes…we suck look at our 26 rings”
cubs fans have no such luxury…people say the cubs suck an we kind of just have to take it…all SG ever said and what i will reinforce is that the shit just gets old…which is why you guys keep doing it…because you know we think its old and will get a reaction out of us
it is like a literary car wreck….everyone wants to see the carnage
Sorry spence, but I have to call you out when you say something dumb and uninformed.
Wrigley ivy >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the Green Monster
Spence, check out what I’ll be attending this weekend!
I have never heard of any of those bands…Is BTO playing?
you say we are insecure…just so we have to tell you why we arent insecure…which makes us look insecure….bastard
either you’re insecure, or you can’t read. Roman did nothing but say how the Cubs are in, have the #1 seed and other good things about the team. All Spencer did was say he didn’t like the uni’s and stadiums (both opinions). he even said
you probably didn’t see this as you were too busy freaking over his opinion on Wrigley and the uniforms. maybe you’re not insecure, it’s probably just a reading issue.
mikey caught on! don’t tell sportsgal though; it’s still fun reading her squirm.
Mikey, I appreciate what you’re saying, but for me my real issue with the Cubs bashing has nothing to do with insecurity or feeling like I need to stick up for the team I like even though they haven’t won anything. My problem is with the lack of creativity and the repetitive nature of the comments/posts on the Cubs. I would like to waste my time reading something at least somewhat entertaining and original on this blog. Instead every fucking week it’s the same tired bullshit about the Cubs and their fans.
i read both….stop taking your yost based anger out on me
@ SG
i know exactly what you mean…they all cut and paste each others shit
i can assure you, no one on here has said anything negative about the Cubs uniforms or Wrigley Field before. therefore, it is new and creative. he also didn’t mention the fans once in his post.
Wrigley and Fenway are both awesome. both fan bases should be lucky they have their respective stadiums.
there will be some unhappy campers with the post i have workin.
Mikey’s Challenge
Write a post on why the Cubs will not win the World Series this year. Rules:
Cannot Include any of the following references
1. bartman
2. billy goats.
3. choke
4. completly useless by september
5. cursed
6. because they suck
7. 1908
8. one hundred years
i will post the winning entry over at my site…that is if anyone can actually write an article with out any of those references
here goes: Best AL team >>> Best NL team
here’s the reason why the Cubs won’t win the WS:
they will get beat by a team that’s streaky hot. happens to some frontrunner every year in almost every sports’ playoff format.
/objective analysis
Mikey…with exception of unbearable fans (not all) and media overdoing the Choke and Bartman (Which I have mentioned) I can’t remember the Cub shit on my part and most of that was in a comment section in a back and forth with SG…Please feel free to look at the Achieves..I am missing the constant Cubs bashing..all of it is done in the comment section or by Hef..and we all know hef is a cock.
We’re in the last two weeks of the season and the Cubs have won 5 in a row. The Cubs could be the streaky hot team.
cubs will suck it and lose. do i win?
we are all winners here today…because we are basking in the glow of a heated discussion amongst MLJ readers…the real winner here is you…the fan
remember, incase you havent watched television lately…there is indeed only one october
@ RWH
theres no constant cub bashing here…i just made fun of the fact that when the cubs play well that peeps needed to make up reasons to not like them…(see spencers post)
sorry I was late to this party but here is my crack at the Cubs post:
The Cubs will not win this year
by MonkeyKong
The Cubs will not win this year because Bartman will be chocking a billy goat. Making him, like the CUbs, completely useless by september. The Cubs are interesting in that they are cursed because they suck. It has been 100 years since 1908.
/3rd gradereded
GO CUBS!!
I’m not sure how the Dodgers will do down the stretch, but I’m pretty certain they will not go 9-4 (9+4=13) in their remaining 12 games. Nor will they finish 87 and 76, since that adds up to 163.
Nice job correctly adding the 9 to the 78 and the 4 to the 72 in their current record, though.