1. It’s Getting Wilder: Finally we have reached that point of the season where the wild card standings are starting to take shape. Right now, both leagues have wide-open chases, with the American League wild card being the closest. Three teams–the Tigers, Yankees, and Mariners–are separated by just one game. The Tigers ended their losing streak on Monday with a 6-4 win over the Devil Rays. The Yankees kept the heat on Detroit, remaining a half-game back with their fourth straight win. The Tigers are also within a half-game of division leader Cleveland, which means the Yankees might have to deal with the Indians in the wild card chase eventually. In the National League, an incredible six teams are separated by three games. San Diego is leading right now, with Atlanta a close second. The Dodgers, Cubs, Phillies, and even the Rockies all are close as well. While last year’s wild card races weren’t very close in September, this year they should go right down to the finish.
2. The Cubs’ Bad Day: It was a bad day for Chicago baseball fans. First, Alfonso Soriano was put on the disabled list due to a tear in his quad. He is expected to miss almost a month of action because of the injury, which occurred while Soriano was running the bases in Sunday’s game against the Mets. To make things worse, the Cubs lost in extra innings to the pitiful Astros. One of Rich Hill’s better starts was ruined as backup catcher Eric Munson hit a game-winning single in the tenth. Houston closer Brad Lidge came off two poor outings to get the win, and starter Wandy Rodriguez continued his up-and-down season with a great effort. The Cubs are still only a game back of the Brewers for the division lead. However, the Cubs aren’t playing nearly as well as they were a couple weeks ago, and now they have lost one of their best offensive players for a while.
3. Who’s #1?: The best two teams in baseball, the Red Sox and the Angels, are playing a series in Anaheim this week. The Angels took the first game, 4-2, after Jered Weaver outpitched Curt Schilling. In Schilling’s return from the DL, he allowed four runs in six innings to raise his ERA to 4.31. Weaver, coming off two outings of six runs allowed, just gave up two as his ERA dipped back to 3.94. The Red Sox and Angels, with 68 and 65 wins respectively, are far and away the best two teams in the majors. They will meet in a couple of weeks for a four-game series at Boston, and there could also be a rematch in the playoffs.
Player of the Day: Paul Byrd, Indians: 9 innings, 4 hits, 0 runs in a 4-0 win over Minnesota. The 10-4 Byrd has the fewest walks among all MLB starters with just 16 in 135 innings this year.
