Now, there are some close races. The Red Sox are 2.5 games up on the Rangers in the AL wild card. The Angels are 3.5 up on Texas in the AL West. But decent logic suggests that the Red Sox and Angels will both pull away from the Rangers, due to the fact that those two teams have a little more talent and a lot more experience than the Rangers. It’s not that either race would be impossible for the Rangers to catch up in, I just don’t see it happening. Likewise, I don’t see the Twins catching the Tigers, nor do I think the Rockies or Giants can make up the five games they need on the Dodgers. And the distance the Cardinals have put between themselves and everyone else is absolutely incredible.

But at the very least, the NL wild card should provide the necessary sparks that September usually does. And don’t think this is just the Giants and Rockies either, the Braves and Marlins are still in play. I actually think the Marlins have a better shot than the Braves at catching the two frontrunners, because their pitching always has potential to improve, even in September. But even still, I think it’s going to come down to the Rocks and Giants, and if I had to make a call my gut has got to go Giants. Even though Tim Lincecum was outpitched by Pedro Martinez tonight, the combo of him and Matt Cain (and Jonathan Sanchez too!) will be too much in this last month for the Rockies to hang on. It will be close, but still I see San Francisco in the playoffs.

So without further ado, I present the Yankees, Tigers, Angels, Red Sox, Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers and Giants: your 2009 MLB playoff teams.

When Alderson was drafted by the Giants in 2007, he was seen as someone with excellent command and who had been able to handle pressure in the past. According to Baseball America, at the time scouts were divided about whether he would be a starter or reliever in the long term. This season in AA, Alderson is 6-1 in 13 games started with a 3.47 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 5.70 K/9.

To me, I think the whole thing is hilarious, and great, for baseball. Suddenly this world of politics which is so deamonized and stereotyped as boring makes its way into America’s Pasttime, and everyone loves it. Shane Victorino took it like a political campaign, and actually went door-to-door with the mayor of Philadelphia reminding people to vote for the Flyin’ Hawaiian. It’s pretty nice to see how much players care. Easily the best part of the whole thing was the teaming up of two camps to create the “Bran-Torino” ballot. Firstly, it was clever, and second it was just smart. Even though I didn’t have any player that I was particularly passionate about helping out, I wanted to see Pablo Sandoval go to St. Louis. But every time I voted for him, I also voted for Brandon Inge, and at the time I thought, wow, the Inge people should get every Sandoval fan to vote for them, and vice-versa. Low and behold, someone did it, albeit with Victorino. Major kudos to whoever executed that plan.

Now, originally, I was going to finish this bit up with why Sandoval deserved the All-Star Game more than Victorino, but really, it’s a complete toss-up, I just happen to like one guy better. Yes, Sandoval has 13 HRs to Victorino’s 6, he’s got a higher batting average by 20 points, more RBIs. But then again, Victorino has speed, he’s got 15 thefts to Sandoval’s mere three, he also has a much better K/BB ratio, so while he has a lower average, their OBP is almost the same. Plus Victorino has been a key player for the Phillies both in this season and their World Series run. So while ESPN may have totally fixed the vote by putting Victorino on SportsCenter for a 10-minute spot, at the end of the day, the guy really deserves to be there.

The San Francisco Giants are far behind in their division race, but are tied for the NL Wild Card and appear to be looking for a a middle-of-the-lineup kind of guy. I think the Giants definitely are right in there, especially if they can add someone.

More problems on the Joe Girardi front. No one is really sure what went on with the A-Rod benching, but rumor has it that A-Rod and Girardi got into some sort of argument. Also, C.C. Sabathia made a reference to his high pitch totals being a factor towards his injury, which could indicate that he is unhappy with Girardi too. For the first time, I’m reading stories that have begun to question how safe Girardi is in his post. If the Yankees fail to make the playoffs again, you have to wonder if he will be the Yankee skipper for much longer…

This is the best story I read today. It’s analyzing whether David Ortiz’s recent “power surge” has really been him hitting better of just getting lucky. Ultimately the author finds that while Ortiz has had a few lucky home runs, he also has had a lot more unlucky fly balls than he was having in the beginning of the season, which is a good sign for Papi.

A funny pie chart on the Cleveland Indians, and if you go to the home page of this website you will find many more clever but also very informative infographs

Also, here’s a note on how the Rangers and Tigers upgraded their defense and why it paid off. It seems the move of Michael Young to third base to make way for Elvis Andrus was an excellent one, despite the fact that it ruffled some feathers in the Young camp.

Lastly, I think it’s cool that Pedroia and Kinsler are battling out the second-base spot at the All-Star Game. The two of them were teammates at Arizona State, and Kinsler eventually transferred because Pedroia took his starting spot, but here they are.

1.    Randy Johnson (299)
2.    Jamie Moyer (249)
3.    Andy Pettitte (219)
4.    John Smoltz (210)
5.    Tim Wakefield (184)

That’s a relatively surprising list. Obviously Johnson and Smoltz make sense. And Pettitte has been a good pitcher for some time. Moyer and Wakefield though? Clearly they have both been around for a long, long time, but the fact that they are far above any others in the game is a little shocking. What’s more interesting though, is that the “star” pitchers in the prime of their careers have pretty low win totals themselves. Roy Oswalt: 130 wins. Jake Peavy: 91 wins. Johan Santana: 116 wins. What’s the point? None of them are going to touch 300 wins. When Johnson gets the one win he needs to be the 24th man reach 300, he will join an elite group of individuals, who are all enshrined in Cooperstown (barring Maddux, Glavine and Clemens, the first two who will surely be in, and the third who may if voters ignore his PED involvement). As we have seen more and more home runs, all of the offensive records have fell, one after the other. 400 or even 500 home runs doesn’t mean what it used to. But 300 wins still does, maybe now more than ever. In an era when pitchers are pitching fewer games, and having shorter careers, wins are hard to come by. Even when they do pitch, when you walk off the mound in the sixth inning, it leaves a lot of time for things to change, for a win to be lost. What does it mean? When Johnson heads to the hill in an attempt to nab his 300th win, he may very well be the last man to do so.