Walk off (to the postseason?)

Three interesting walk offs tonight with postseason implications. Starting with the most interesting.

That creepy guy in Milwaukee would have gone done that slide, as Ryan Braun hit a walk off grand slam to beat the Pirates 5-1 in the bottom of the tenth. Luckily people would have had something better to do, cheer as the Brewers remain tied for the NL Wildcard.

Next, possibly equal, or better, as far as importance goes, in that it moved them into the lead in the AL Central, the Twins topped a five run (down 6-1 at the end of the visiting half of the 4th) comeback with Alexi Casilla hitting a walk off single in the bottom of the 10th to take a 0.5 game lead. I was basing my decision on walk off hit, grand slam beating a single. Come to think of it, I should have chose this over Milwaukee, as I prefer the Twins, but oh well.

Finally, the Mets did it in the bottom of the 9th. Carlos Beltran singled on a line drive to right field, but not before being deflected by Micah Hoffpauir. So the Mets still have a chance at the division.

The Astros still have the slimmest of chance. At 3.5 games behind Milwaukee and New York, they'd have to win all four remaining games, while the Brewers and Mets would have to lose all three. The Astros have a rain delayed game on hand to play, if necessary (see my previous post).

So really all the teams are set save for either Minnesota and Chicago. And of course the match ups.

Kansas City visit the Twins for the final three games, while Cleveland visits the White Sox. The White Sox also have one game on hand, as they had one rain delayed game moved to the 29th as well (hosting Detroit).

So looks like the Los Angeles Angels will host Boston while the Rays will host either the White Sox or Twins. The Cubs will host the Brewers, Mets, or Phillies, and the Phillies or Mets could host the Dodgers.

So much for a brief post (as usual).

The havoc of rain

Rain, the very rain as described in my last blog post played havoc once again for the White Sox. Their Saturday doubleheader will be today (Sunday) instead. That will leave one game unplayed between the White Sox and Tigers. They will make up the final game once the regular season is over, if necessary. Former Expo (Yankee and Diamondback) was set to start the first game of the doubleheader Saturday, but will instead do so today on four days rest, as opposed to three. He'll be up against Justin Verlander. Game 2 of the split doubleheader will be John Danks (10-8, 3.44) versus Kenny Rogers (9-13, 5.49). Both lefties.

The Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs are in a similar situation, however this is thanks to Hurricane Ike. The two (really three) postponed games will be played Sunday night and Monday afternoon in Milwaukee!

So the Astros will have travelled to Milwaukee from Houston. While it seems the Cubs never were in Houston. So they'll have had to travel from Chicago to Milwaukee. Which driving is only an hour and forty five minutes. The Cubs played in St. Louis Thursday, while Hosuton was at home hosting the Pirates.

Monday the Cubs go back to Chicago to host the Brewers and the Astros have to travel to Miami Gardens to play the Marlins.

The third makeup game of the series will be in Houston, Monday the 29th. The Astros will already be in town after six home games (three Cincinnati, three Atlanta), and the Cubs will travel from Milwaukee to Houston to end the regular season there.

This neutral site scenario reminds me of something similar that happened to the Expos in 2004. With the threat of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, the Marlins hosted the Expos for two games at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. These games happened September 13 and 14. I remember it as the Cubs fans would have been rooting for the Expos, to keep the Marlins away from the wildcard, and the White Sox fans would have been rooting for the Marlins, for obvious reasons, so the Cubs wouldn't win. Thus it made for an interesting game, as it would have been populated by Chicagoan's, rooting for alternating teams that were not their main team. The White Sox fans Marlins prevailed, as they won both games, 6-3 and 8-6 respectively.

For the Milwaukee residents that decide to go see either or both games, it should be interesting in who they root for, as they are sandwiched between the Astros and Cubs.

Currently it looks like this:


NL Central

               W-L      %     GB
Chicago        88-58   .603
Milwaukee      83-65   .561   6.0
Houston        80-67   .544   8.5

NL Wildcard

               W-L      %     GB
Milwaukee      83-65   .561   
Philadelphia   81-67   .547   2.0
Houston        80-67   .544   2.5
St. Louis      78-70   .527   5.0



Since Milwaukee has the wildcard, they'll more than likely be rooting for the Cubs to keep the Astros away from the wildcard. Milwaukee plays the Cubs three more times, in Chicago, so they could still win the division. Therefore if they want to win the division, they'll root for the Astros.

The Brewers have 14 games remaining, the Cubs have 16, and the Astros have 15. While the Phillies still have a chance at the division or wildcard have 14 remaining.