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NL wild-card race

MLB Playoff Race: Brewers-Pirates Battle Starts Week

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The Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t won a series in September. The Milwaukee Brewers haven’t lost one since the August 17-19 weekend, and the two teams moving in opposite directions have finally crisscrossed in the standings. The Pirates dropped two of three in Wrigley Field over the weekend, while the Brewers rebounded from a Friday night loss to capture a home series with the New York Mets. Milwaukee has moved a half-game ahead of Pittsburgh in the NL wild-card race, with both teams having to catch Los Angeles and St. Louis.

With 2 ½ weeks to go in the regular season it’s fair to say the Brewers-Pirates three-game series in Pittsburgh starting Tuesday is virtually an elimination series. Milwaukee’s scoring more runs than any National League team for the month of September and Pittsburgh pitching is giving up more. Clint Hurdle turns to A.J. Burnett in the opener and then to Wandy Rodriguez in the matinee finale on Thursday to see if he can turn the tide, in what will be the biggest series in baseball between now and the weekend, and the biggest matchup between these two sports markets since the Packers-Steelers Super Bowl following the 2010 season.

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: Orioles & Yanks Tied Again In AL East

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The AL East race is back to a dead heat after last night’s dramatic finish in Fenway Park. With Baltimore having beaten Tampa Bay 9-2, attention swung to the Yankees-Red Sox games, and when Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury broke a 3-3 tie in the ninth with an RBI single, the Yanks were back to even with the Orioles, with the Rays still hanging at two games back

Three Big Early Week Matchups Key Race For National League Playoffs

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The road proved to be what the Los Angeles Dodgers needed. After a disappointing homestand, the Dodgers went to Miami this past weekend and stabilized the ship by winning two of three and set themselves up for a huge four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates on the banks of the Allegheny River starting tonight. Is it too much to say this is the biggest series for these teams since they met in the 1974 NLCS? Probably not. The Pirates are holding a 2.5 game over the Dodgers for the last wild-card berth and the hosts are coming off a tough weekend, losing a home series to lowly San Diego. Pittsburgh has slipped 4.5 games of Cincinnati and needs to plant its feet in the best series of a great early week schedule for the National League.