And the neon when it's cold outside
And the highway when it's late at night
Got the radio on
There, there. It will all be over soon.
I mean, while the Red Sox are technically still in the hunt, their practical chances of sneaking into the post-season are Extremely Slim - they're four games out, with six left to play, and three teams to overtake (they're also behind Seattle.) They would pretty much have to run the table, and get a lot of help at the same time. There's a pretty decent chance we will see their last flickering hopes formally extinguished while they're visiting our house. They've just shut down Rafael Devers, their best hitter, for the remainder of the season. That's probably not going to help.
We take our pleasures where we find them these days.
At the moment, of course, Kansas City and Detroit occupy the final two AL playoff spots, with Minnesota one game behind. But while the Twins and Tigers both finish up with a six-game homestand, the Royals have to head out on the road to conclude their season. Their final three will be with an Atlanta team that may be desperately trying to keep their own fading post-season chances alive.
The Twins have stumbled a bit lately, but they get to finish up with three games against Miami, who will be one of two MLB teams to lose 100 games, and then three with Baltimore who have been fading even more comprehensively than the Twins (the Orioles haven't had a winning month since June.) The Twins also hold the tie-breakers over both Kansas City and Detroit (KC has the tie-breaker over Detroit.)
Meanwhile Detroit wraps up with three games against the Chicago White Sox. So I'm liking their chances quite a bit.
The situation is almost the same in the other league - the Mets and the Diamondbacks are tied at 87-69 - they hold the final two playoff spots, and the Braves are two games behind. The Mets are the team that has to finish their season on the road while the other two contenders get to stay home. And there's gonna be a showdown, beginning tonight in Atlanta, with the Mets going down to Georgia for three. By Wednesday we might have a better idea where all this is heading.
Or we might not.
Matchups
Mon 23 Sep - Houck (8-10, 3.21) vs Bassitt (10-13, 4.16)
Tue 24 Sep - Bello (14-8, 4.49) vs Francis (8-5, 3.47)
Fri 25 Sep - Fitts (0-0, 0.00) vs Gausman (13-11, 3.91)
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=2024092312523721