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American League playoff race

Phils & Brewers Join The Fray In National League Wild Card Race

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The American League playoff race got a little bit of clarity this week thanks to some decisive results in showdown series, but the once-clear National League suddenly has a wild finish on its hands. While the division titles are all firmly in hand, as Washington, Cincinnati and San Francisco continue to run away with first place, and the first wild card is under solid control by Atlanta, the second wild-card now has at least five viable contenders.

MLB Playoff Race: Alex Rios Comes Up Big In Chicago

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The American League’s big series got underway yesterday on the South Side of Chicago, and the White Sox came up with a 6-1 win over the Tigers that gave Chicago the first of a four-game set and extended their lead in the AL Central to three games. Rick Porcello was solid through five innings for Detroit and took a 1-0 lead into the sixth, but then Alex Rios left his mark.

Chicago’s rightfielder hit a three-run shot to make it a 3-1 game and A.J. Pierszynski immediately followed with a solo home run of his own. It was plenty for Jose Quintana who worked into the eighth inning and kept Detroit’s power duo of Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera under control. The Tigers’ muscle men combined to go just 1-for-8 with a single and no walks. Porcello, and the three relievers that followed him for Detroit, were effective at handling the top of the Chicago order. Alejandro de Aza, Kevin Youkilis and DeWayne Wise went a collective 0-for-11, though they did draw a couple walks. But with Rios bailed everyone out with the long ball and the folks in the South Side can breathe a little easier.

MLB Playoff Race: Labor Day Overview

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Down the stretch they come! With thirty days left to the end of the MLB regular season, 15 teams are in legitimate contention for a playoff berth and four of the six division titles look genuinely up for grabs. With Labor Day baseball about an hour away as this goes online let’s take a look at the landscape for the MLB playoff race.

Tampa Bay-Texas Tonight Keynotes Early Week MLB Schedule

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The Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers have met in the playoffs each of the last two years, with the Rangers winning both times en route to consecutive American League pennants. The October foes square off again to start the week, and while Texas is secure, 5.5 games up in the AL West, Tampa Bay is battling tooth and nail for a wild-card spot as well as keeping their eyes on the New York Yankees ahead of them in the AL East. The Rangers-Rays series in Arlington keynotes the opening half of the week in the race for the MLB playoffs.

American League Wild Card Race Sets MLB Weekend Tone

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The American League playoff outlook in general and the wild-card race in particular seem to be getting tighter, not looser, with each passing day and you have two big head-to-head series going down featuring four of the five contenders. Tampa Bay, who holds the top spot right now started a series with Oakland last night in the Trop. And Detroit, who is tied with Oakland and Baltimore for the second wild-card berth, plays host to the Los Angeles Angels who are just 2.5 games out. TheSportsNotebook looks at these series, and the rest of the weekend matchups involving contenders…

Eight Weeks To Go In Push For MLB Playoffs

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At the conclusion of Sunday’s games, we’ll have exactly eight weeks left in the regular season with the non-waiver trade deadline behind us. That marks a swing point in the baseball calendar, as August and September are when the sport can take on a football-like intensity. Look at this way—teams usually play two series a week. If each series were treated as a single “game”, then there are 16 matchups left—the same as an NFL schedule. Yes, it speaks volumes to how many baseball games there are that we’ve had to play four months to reach this point and still have to treat a three-game entity as a single match, but there’s no question that it times to ratchet up the game-by-game intensity. TheSportsNotebook summarizes the landscape as we turn the corner…

AL Report: Critical Days Ahead For The Tampa Bay Rays

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The Tampa Bay Rays are at the decisive point of their season in more ways than one. At 51-47, and hanging within 2 ½ games of a wild-card spot, the Rays have started a nine-game road trip by winning two in Baltimore, with the afternoon getaway game scoreless in the fifth and this article goes online. Up next is consecutive series in Oakland and Los Angeles, the two teams who currently both wild-card spots. Then add in the fact that Tampa is rumored to be shopping starting pitcher James Shields—to the Angels no less—as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. Assume for the moment that Shields stays put or the Rays get major league value in return. Can they turn their disappointing season around?

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