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American League wild-card race

9 Thoughts On The American League Wild-Card Race

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The American League wild-card race has five teams vying for the final spot in the playoffs. Assuming that the runner-up in the Oakland A’s/LA Angels race for the AL West title will be in the wild-card game, that leaves five more teams within five games of each other for the last spot. Those teams are, in order of the current standings, the Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians. Here’s nine thoughts on that race as it heads into the homestretch…

MLB Playoff Race: Oakland Beats Back LA Angels

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Everything was all set up for the Los Angeles Angels to make one final push into the playoffs. The talented big-budget team with the enigmatic bullpen was on a roll and a four-game home series with wild-card leading Oakland was just the ticket to get themselves into the lead for one of the two spots in the first-ever American League wild-card game. But the Angels again seem intent on turning Michael Corleone’s quote from Godfather III on its head, in that every time we think they’re in, they pull themselves back out.

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…

Are Toronto & Boston Dead For The American League Playoffs?

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Is there any hope left for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox in the American League wild-card race? The two AL East teams were on the fringes of contention when the week began, hanging 5 and 4.5 games out respectively. But each has missed significant opportunities to capitalize. The Jays were swept by Tampa Bay when the last three games gave Toronto a chance to gain ground on one of the five teams that are packed within a game or so of the two wild-card spots in the American League playoffs. Boston wrapped up a 10-game homestand by losing two of three to Texas and finishing 4-6 for the sequence of games that was supposed to kickstart an August push. Both teams began 2012 with October expectations. TheSportsNotebook examines what went wrong and whether we should indeed stick a fork in both teams…

Oakland A’s Host LAA To Highlight Early Week MLB Matchups

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The Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Angels are barely hanging on in the AL West race, trailing Texas by 5.5 and 6 games respectively. But the A’s lead the wild-card race and the Angels are just a game out of the playoffs as they begin a crucial three-game series in NoCal tonight. The series’ loser […]

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?

AL Weekly Report: The Cleveland Indians Join The Wild-Card Fray

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The American League Central is starting to become where the action is as we hit the last day of baseball prior to the All-Star break. The Cleveland Indians have ripped through three successive series against contenders, playing good baseball. Not only are the Tribe keeping pace with the red-hot Chicago White Sox, with only a three-game margin coming into Sunday, but Cleveland is squarely in the middle of the wild-card race and could be even with Baltimore by day’s end.