A little baseball talk

View from the cheap seats - Well the Blue Jays actually provided a bit of excitement for their fans for a couple of weeks, eh?

Unfortunately, it was just too big a hill to climb and the pressure of having to win every game caught up with them in last weekend's series against the Sox.

Anyway, it was refreshing to watch them play a meaningful baseball game in the month of September, it's been a while since that was the case. But at this point, I guess I should take a look at the teams that will actually be in this years playoffs.

So, the only division in baseball that has been decided already is the American League West and the Los Angeles Angels put that baby to bed way back on the 10th of September - I'll get back to them in a minute. The surprising Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox are still battling to determine which will take the East Division and which will claim the Wild Card spot and the Chicago White Sox are trying to hold off the Minnesota Twins for top spot in the Central.

I expect Chicago to hang on they lead the Twins by 2.5 games right now, and for Ray's sake I hope they finish ahead of Boston. I say that because if they don't they are going to face the Angels in round one of the playoffs and that will certainly spell an early exit from what will be the franchises first ever trip to the postseason. I wouldn't put as a favourite over the White Sox either but at least in that series they would have a fighting chance.

If Boston does catch the Rays then I'm predicting a Red Sox vs. Angeles American League Championship Series (ALCS) otherwise it will be the Angels and Chicago. Either way, it shakes out I just don't see any of those teams coming out on top of that juggernaut in the west. Their five starters all have double-digit wins, they have a very capable relief staff and sport the best closer in the game right now.

Francisco Rodriguez is as money as you get with the game on the line; his single season save record of 58 games this year is all the proof you need when it comes to his reliability. They also have a very deep and dangerous line-up with the likes of Vladimir Guerrero, Tori Hunter, Mike Napoli and Garret Anderson along with relative newcomer Mark Teixeira.

Los Angeles has been the best team in Major League Baseball all year and I see no reason why they won't be in the World Series come October. So what's going on out in the National League you ask? Well there are a couple of hotly contested Division races ongoing and there are still a few teams in the hunt for the Wild Card spot as well.

The Chicago Cubs, even though they haven't played very good of late, have the Central Division nearly locked up but the New York Mets are in a real battle with the Philadelphia Phillies for first in the East and the Arizona Diamondbacks are still alive in the West.

The D-Backs are currently 4.5 games behind the Division leaders but unless they can reverse the miserable streak they've been on of late, one that has seen them drop something like 12 of their last 15 ball games, around then Manny and the Los Angeles Dodgers will claim the postseason birth from that division.

Before I move on, I have to say that it is really sickening to see that either Arizona or Los Angeles are going to the playoffs with a record that will be no better than 10 games above .500 at season's end.

Any other division in baseball and every team in the West would be a mile away from the division lead and nearly that far away from the Wild Card race. With that being said there are still four clubs vying for that coveted Wild Card spot.

By virtue of having been just overtaken by the Phillies for the Division lead the Mets find themselves leading the race at the moment but Milwaukee is just a .5 game back and the Astros and Marlins are still within hailing distance, 4 and 5 games back respectively.

If Houston continues to play as hot as the have been of late I could actually see them make up the deficit on the two front runners both of which have been playing terrible in recent weeks.

It's still too close to call but if I have to make a prediction right now I like the Cubs and Phillies in the National League Championship Series and an eventual Philadelphia vs Los Angeles World Series. I think I'll wait and see if that actually comes to fruition before I pick a winner between these two.