Major League Baseball Regular Season Nearing End

We're nearing the tail end of this 2012 edition of major league baseball, and there are still some positions up in the air for the playoffs.  The New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles are IN, vying between themselves for the AL East championship with the loser being one of the league's two wild card entries.  The AL Central has the Detroit Tigers three games ahead of the Chicago White Sox, with three games left to play and thus on the verge of clinching that division.  In the AL West, the there are still three teams alive: the Texas Rangers, already in the playoffs but not yet champs of that division, the Oakland Athletics, with the inside track to the playoffs as a wild card team (they could clinch a spot with a win later tonight) and a chance to overtake Texas, and the Los Angeles Angels, just barely hanging on to a remote shot at the playoffs.

In the National League, the divisional winners have been decided: Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, and San Francisco Giants.  The Atlanta Braves are also as the best wild card team, leaving the last wild card spot open between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Cards, last year's World Series champions, have a two game lead over LA with three games to go.  But if they make the playoffs, St. Louis could go the distance once again, in my opinion.

My favorites this year are the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves.  Not only are they my personal favorites, but they are also strong enough to make it to the World Series, for a fourth Series match-up between the Yankees and Braves (the last one being in 1996).  Then again, there are some other intriguing possibilities, which I may examine soon in a future article...