It took all 162 games but the Atlanta Braves have finally clinched a spot in the 2010 Playoffs so it looks like mascot “Homer” will be donning his head at least a few more times this season.

Despite a rocky September which saw the team lose six of nine games against last place teams and lose five in a row against the Phillies at one point, the Braves will be playing as the Wild Card for the first time in franchise history.

Despite finishing the year with an offense that has only three productive hitters, the Braves were able to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-7 in the only game of the series that really mattered.

After falling behind 2-0, the Braves rallied back to take an 8-2 lead into the seventh inning. Tim Hudson, who could win Comeback Player of the Year, pitched seven strong innings, allowing four runs before leaving with the lead.

After Jonny Venters struggled early in the eighth, Billy Wagner was brought in to try and record the four out save. Wagner allowed three runs to score in the eighth, but struck out the side in the ninth to preserve the win.

The Braves didn’t officially clinch the Wild Card however, until the San Francisco Giants won 3-0 over the San Diego Padres later in the afternoon. When Brian Wilson completed the San Francisco shut out, the Braves finally had reason to celebrate.

All season long the Braves excelled at winning games in their last at-bat, so it somehow seems fitting that they won a close game on the last day of the season to return to the playoffs. Riding Derek Lowe’s 5-0 hot streak at the end of the season also helped their cause.

The Braves seemed flat after yesterday’s loss, but now should be riding high as they move into the playoffs for the final time in Bobby Cox’s illustrious career. With a strong pitching staff and some late inning magic, the Braves just might be able to get Cox that second World Series title that has eluded him for so long.

More MLB: Braves ride Derek Lowe’s 5-0 hot streak into the playoffs – Sports Climax

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Since the end of a frustrating 2009 campaign, Atlanta Braves fans have agreed that signing Derek Lowe to a big free agent contract was a bad decision as he ate up payroll while essentially being the team’s fifth best starter.

Instead of being a 15 million dollar ace that the Braves envisioned, Lowe posted a 4.67 ERA in 2009 and looked more like a washed up innings eater than a pitcher you would want on the mound in a big situation.

Lowe continued to disappoint in 2010, posting a 4.53 ERA through his first 28 starts this year. Because the Braves had plenty of starting pitching options at the time, they decided that it would be best if Lowe skipped his first start of September in order to rest his arm.

Since that skipped start, the Braves are finally getting some value out of Lowe. In the season’s most important month, Lowe has dominated, going 5-0 with a 1.17 ERA in five turns. While the Braves offense has struggled, it has been Lowe (and not ace Tim Hudson) who has given the Braves dominant starts and kept them in the Wild Card lead.

Lowe’s best start as a Braves came September 13^th against Washington when he allowed just six hits and fanned 12 batters over eight shutout innings. Lowe’s most important start with the Braves might have been yesterday against the Florida Marlins, when he allowed just one run in 5.2 innings while pitching on short rest.

The Braves currently sit 1.5 games ahead of the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card race despite a less than stellar 13-14 record in the month of September. With the Braves offense struggling, it’s likely that the team would only have nine or 10 wins this month had Lowe not started a hot streak.

If the Braves use their starters on regular rest for the last three games of the season, Lowe would be slated to pitch if the Braves had to enter a one game playoff to decide the Wild Card race. While the Derek Lowe signing may have looked bad to Braves fans at first, Lowe has shown he still can be a difference maker, and ultimately could be the reason the Braves are playing in October.

Another starter that is lighting it up late this season is Phillies starter Roy Oswalt.

MORE MLB:

MLB Managers entering Revolving Door – Sports Climax 

Starter Roy Oswalt on Fire for Phillies – Sports Climax

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

When Roy Oswalt waved his no-trade clause and moved to the Philadelphia Phillies, there were plenty of people left wondering if he had enough left in the tank to make a difference, never mind be the ace that he had been for so many years in Houston.

Despite a solid 3.42 ERA with the Houston Astros in 2010, Oswalt had just a 6-12 and seemed to have lost the competitive fire that helped him become a bona-fide ace during the middle of the decade.

Since moving to Philadelphia and becoming part of the Phillies “Big 3” or “H2O” pitching staff, Oswalt has silenced his critics and helped the Phillies overtake the Braves to regain the NL East lead.

When Oswalt came to Philly, the Braves led the division by 3.5 games and seemed to be cruising back toward the playoff spot that they owned during the 1990’s. Now, with the help of Oswalt, the Phillies are sitting on a seven game cushion and riding an 11 game winning streak.

Since coming to the City of Brotherly Love, Oswalt has not only regained his ace form, but pitched better than he ever did in Houston. In 11 starts with the Phillies, Oswalt is 7-1 with a sparkling 1.76 ERA and might gain some Cy Young consideration despite his mediocre overall record.

While his 3.13 FIP and 3.43 xFIP show that Oswalt might be pitching a little over his head at the moment, he has already shown that he still has the fire to pitch extremely well.

Oswalt’s last start with the Phillies may have been his best and was definitely the most important.

With the chance to essentially end the Braves chances of winning the NL East with a three game sweep, Oswalt out-dueled Tommy Hanson, allowing just one hit and no runs over seven innings in the Phillies 1-0 shutout win.

While the Phillies may have made the playoffs riding Roy Halladay, the presence of Oswalt has changed the team from good to great and made the Philadelphia Phillies the team to beat in the NL once again.

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Matt Holliday, Brad Hawpe and Garret Atkins led the way back in 2007 when the Colorado Rockies made an improbable late-season run to the playoffs and coined the phrase “Rocktober.”

Three years later, all three of those players are out of the Rockies organization but the Rockies are once again looking to make a late season push into the playoffs.

On September 1^st, the Rockies sat seven games out of first place in the NL West (they were only six games out on the same date in 2007) but now find themselves just a game and a half out with 13 left to play.

A rookie who brought a boost of energy to the Rockies back in 2007, Troy Tulowitski is now leading the Rockies latest playoff charge that brings back memories of Matt Holliday’s slide to beat the Padres in a one game playoff.

On the month of September, Tulo is hitting .325 and slugging an incredible .590. His 14 homeruns this month are more than he had the rest of the season (he now stands at 26 on the year) and he hit them all within a span of 15 games.

The NL record for homeruns in September is 16, set by Ralph Kiner back in 1949. The overall September record is 17, set by both Albert Belle and Babe Ruth. Sammy Sosa has the most homeruns of in any month, as he hit 20 back in June of 1998. Tulowitski has a chance to make history if he can continue his power surge, but that’s not what he’s focused on at this point.

Although the Rockies might not finish the season by winning 14 of their last 15 games like they did in 2007, a run to the playoffs would mark a remarkable comeback for a team that was over 10 games back less than a month ago.

With a red hot Troy Tulowitski and Triple Crown contender Carlos Gonzalez leading the way, there’s reason to believe that we could be in for another long Rocktober.

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

If you’re a fan of the Chicago White Sox, you can stick a fork in your team at this point.

Coming into this week’s series with the Minnesota Twins, the Sox were six games out of the division lead and needed to take at least two out of three from the Twins in Chicago. The Sox had a chance to make a statement that the AL Central still would be a two team race, but instead it was the Twins who made a statement.

Winning two out of three in Chicago would have given the Twins a comfortable seven game lead in the division, but they instead made a bigger statement that they are in the running as a strong contender to finish the season with the best record in baseball.

Despite Paul Konerko having arguably the best season of his career and the late season addition of outfielder Manny Ramirez (who hasn’t added any power to the lineup since joining Chicago) the White Sox should find themselves out of the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Even without Justin Morneau, the Twins have played terrific baseball in the season’s second half, winning 74% of their games including an impressive 12-2 record so far in September. With terrific and somewhat surprising efforts from Jim Thome and Carl Pavano this year, the Twins have jumped out to the second largest division lead in all of baseball.

Of course you can’t forget about Joe Mauer, the Twins leader has continued to play exceptionally well, hitting .331 with a .880 OPS. Although his numbers aren’t as impressive as during last year’s MVP campaign, Mauer leads the Twins in WAR and should continue to lead the team throughout the playoffs.

For the Twins, sweeping Chicago means more than essentially clinching the division. They now sit just a half game back of the Rays for the best record in the American League and will have a chance to clinch home field advantage over the coming weeks. The Twins currently have the best home record in the American League, so home field advantage could mean a lot in the ALCS.

Sweeping the White Sox wasn’t a just a statement that they own the AL Central this year; it was a statement that the rest of the AL better watch out come October.

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Although the majority of the playoff races are taking place in the National League, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays are still battling it out for the East in the tightest AL race.

The two teams are currently in the midst of a three game set in Tampa Bay and will play each other four times in New York next week. While the division battle could go down to the wire, either team could make itself a clear favorite by winning four or five of the remaining games.

Tampa Bay currently is sitting 0.5 games out of first place and will have James Shields pitching against Phil Hughes tonight. The first two games of the series have both been exciting extra innings games.

On the year, the Yankees are 6-7 against the Rays, scoring 66 runs (to the Rays 67) in 13 games. However, the Yankees typically win the season series with the Rays, as the Yankees went 11-7 against them in both 2008 and 2009 (the first two seasons in which the Rays were legitimate contenders).

Two Yankee batters that could play key roles in the final five games between the teams are Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher. Cano has hit .324 with 15 homeruns in 94 career games against the Rays including an impressive .478 clip against tonight’s starter James Shields. Swisher, just a .252 career hitter has hit .294 with 17 homeruns in 62 career games against the Rays. Over a full season, that equates to a 44 homerun season.

Unlike the Yankees, the Rays don’t have any hitters who have been dominant against the Yankees. Carl Crawford has put up a solid .300 batting average, but that isn’t much better than his .296 career average. One player to watch will be rookie catcher John Jaso, who has hit .391 against the Yankees in his brief major league career.

Although the Rays have a one game advantage on the Yankees right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the teams end up splitting the season series. The Yankees have more guys who have played well against the Rays in their careers, but it’s important to remember that the Rays were an AL bottom feeder before the 2008 season.

After seeing the last two games in the Yankees-Rays series, we can only hope that the final five games between the Major’s two best teams will be as dramatic.

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

At the beginning of the year, if I had gone out and said my bold prediction was that the San Diego Padres wouldn’t make the playoffs, you would have thought it was a bad joke.

If you go back to August 25^th when the Padres had a comfortable 6.5 game lead on the NL West and the best record in the National League with just 37 games to play, most people would have said I was crazy to think the Padres would not be playing in the post season.

Since that date, however, the Padres have dropped nine consecutive games and now lead their division by a slim two game margin and luckily for them the Giants have been struggling going just 4-5 over that same span.

Once seen as a lock to make their first post-season appearance since 2006, the Padres now have no momentum heading into the most important part of the baseball season.

While it’s on a longer timetable, the Padres risk a collapse as devastating as those suffered by the Mets in recent years. The doubts that arose when the Padres first started winning are now beginning to resurface.

All year people questioned the Padres offense, but the team kept winning. Now the issue is rearing its ugly head, as the team has scored just 2.3 runs a game during the streak. Even the Padres vaunted pitching staff seems to be coming down to earth. While allowing 5.7 runs a game, the Padres staff no longer seems unhittable.

While there is still plenty of time to turn things around, the Padres need to get back on track soon if they want to make it to October. With the Phillies recent hot streak, the Padres can’t depend on the option of falling back onto the Wild Card.

I think the Padres still are the favorites to take the division. After all, if they still have a lead after a large losing streak they must have been doing a lot right earlier in the year but the streak must end soon.

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

National League pennant races are gearing up as the calendar is just days away from turning to September marking the beginning of baseball’s stretch run.

Seven different teams are within five games of a playoff spot in the NL so there should be a laundry list of meaningful games played over the final month of the season.

Although no teams are mathematically eliminated at this point, only six teams have greater than 10% chance of making the playoffs according to www.coolstandings.com. The Colorado Rockies, who have won five of their past six, have jumped on the wagon and pulled within 4.5 games of the Wild Card lead.

With only four teams making the playoffs we should expect some exciting neck-to-neck races as the season winds down into post-season.

NL East:

Competitors and Their Playoff Chances:

Atlanta Braves: 89.2%

Philadelphia Phillies: 52.7%

Stretch Run Outlook:

The Florida Marlins are a distant third at 9.5 games back in the NL East so this looks like a two team race.

Atlanta and Philadelphia have both been struggling a little over the past week. The Braves were swept by Colorado, including the game they imploded, blowing a nine-run lead, yet they ended up gaining half a game in the standings because the Phillies lost four straight games to Houston.

Injuries have played a big part in this race, as both teams have seen star players including Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Jason Heyward and Martin Prado go down. Currently, Ryan Howard is still on the DL for the Phillies and franchise cornerstone Chipper Jones will miss the remainder of the season for the Braves.

Both teams will play plenty of division games down the stretch. The Phillies end the season with 25 straight against division foes and the Braves play 18 in a row against the NL East. Additionally, the two teams will meet for six games the rest of the way, including a crucial three game series from October 1-3 in Atlanta to end the season.

Over the course of the remainder of the year the teams should stay close, meaning the division will be decided in the final series between the two clubs. In the end, I give the edge to the Braves. They have a much better run differential on the season, and if the division does come down to one final series, the Braves will be at home where they have the best record in baseball.

NL Central:

Competitors and Their Playoff Chances:

Cincinnati Reds: 88.8%

St. Louis Cardinals: 39.2%

Stretch Run Outlook:

The Reds have opened up a five game lead on the division, but surprisingly have a worse run differential than the Cardinals on the season.

Going down the stretch, the biggest question mark will be whether or not the Reds pitching staff (specifically their starters) can hold up. Johnny Cueto and Bronson Arroyo are probably the worst 1-2 combination of the six teams closest to the playoffs, and Edinson Volquez has struggled since returning from the DL.

Additionally, Mike Leake (who has already fizzled out over the long season), Travis Wood and Homer Bailey are inexperienced and may not be able to handle the pressures of a pennant race.

One interesting sub-plot of these teams battling it out over the remainder of the season is the possible Triple Crown battle between Albert Pujols and Joey Votto. Both are in the top three of all the Triple Crown categories, and will have to battle with each other and Carlos Gonzalez for a chance to accomplish the historic feat.

Despite the Reds questionable starting rotation, I don’t think the Cardinals will be able to close the gap. The two teams play their final series with each other this coming weekend, and the Cardinals will have to win or sweep the series if they want to have any chance of overtaking the Reds for the division lead.

NL West:
Competitors and Their Playoff Chances:

San Diego Padres: 92.5%

San Francisco Giants: 31.1%

Colorado Rockies: 3.9%

While the Rockies are still within five games of a playoff spot, their chances of winning the NL West are extremely thin. They just came off a big sweep of the Braves and proceeded to take two of three from the Dodgers to keep a slim hope of the playoffs alive.

The Padres have opened a five game lead over the Giants, although neither of those teams are playing extremely well right now; in fact, no team in the National League has won more than six of their past 10 games.

The Padres pitching staff has been carrying the team all year long, and while their starters have been phenomenal their bullpen has been even better. Heath Bell, Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams, Tim Stauffer, Joe Thatcher and Ernesto Frieri all have ERA’s below 3.00.

While I like the addition of Jose Guillen to the Giants offense, they too will need to rely on pitching if they are to make it to the playoffs. Both Tim Lincecum (5.17 ERA) and Barry Zito (4.72) have struggled since the All-Star break.

The Giants and Padres have seven games remaining against each other, including a three game set in San Francisco on the last three days of the season. Although I like the Giants offense better and think Lincecum will improve on his terrible second half, the Padres will win this division and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was over before the teams met for their last series of the season.

Wild Card Race:

Unlike the American League, the National League is setting up to have a heated race to the Wild Card. The Phillies currently lead the way by 1.5 games over the Giants, 3 games over the Cardinals and 4.5 games over the Rockies.

If my division predictions hold, those four teams will be competing for one final playoff spot as we get closer to October. Of the four teams, the Cardinals have the best run differential and have allowed the fewest runs this season. The Rockies have the highest scoring offense, and the two frontrunners have shown to be solid all-around teams.

Down the stretch teams typically play more games within their division, which his bad news for San Francisco, which has a losing record against the NL West. The Phillies have been terrific against the NL East (19-9) and end the season with 25 games against divisional opponents.

I think that the Phillies will ultimately win the Wild Card, as they are currently in the lead and have played great against their division. The team has dealt with injuries all year and should be playing its best baseball down the stretch as most of their starters are playing every day once again.

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

In the Major League satire feature films we never got confirmation from characters Pedro Cerrano or Eddie Harris as to whether or not Jesus could hit a curve ball. It is, however, confirmed in the real Major League Baseball world that the Washington Nationals “Savior” is unable to save himself from Tommy John surgery.

Stephen Strasburg showed the world what unique talent he possessed the first time he stepped on the mound in Nationals Park on June 8 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The most hyped rookie in the history of MLB proved his believers right and dazzled a national television audience, dominating the Pirates while striking out 14 hitters in seven innings.

While the youngster conquered and it was a classic case of a star being born overnight, what concerned a lot of MLB fans was the upside-down arm action that Strasburg threw with.

Fast-forward to August from that debut night against Pittsburgh and things have certainly changed. It appears that instead of pulling the Nats out of the basement in 2011, Strasburg will instead be rehabbing and working toward returning from Tommy John surgery.

White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper pointed Strasburg’s problematic delivery out after his first stint on the DL, comparing him to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, two promising pitchers who never lived up to their hype due to a laundry list of injuries.

Despite the Nationals best efforts to protect Strasburg’s golden arm (they were going to cut him off at 160 innings and kept his pitch counts limited in the starts he made) he is now facing 12 to 18 months of rehab. That means we may not see Strasburg until Spring Training 2012.

Regardless of what the Nats did, pitching is a violent and unnatural motion, and players with certain deliveries will be more apt to get hurt no matter what measures are taken.

Strasburg’s injury is a huge blow to the Nationals. The organization has spent its time in D.C. as an irrelevant bottom-feeder in the National League East. Although they are heading toward another last place finish in 2010, Strasburg represented a future and hope; making the team and fans believe they would soon be competitive.

While it’s possible that the best case scenario suggests Strasburg could be ready to go in September 2011, the team would be incredibly dumb to rush him back since they will likely once again be far away from the pennant race.

Strasburg himself is determined to come back from the injury as quick as possible. He said, “right now I want to be the best at rehabbing and getting back out [there].”

Hopefully when he does, he brings the same heat and a bender that would even make Jesus’ knees buckle.  

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Over three quarters of the baseball season has been played and when the calendar flips to September expect some exciting American League pennant races to go down to the wire.

While no teams have been mathematically eliminated, only six AL teams still have a greater than 10% chance of making it to the playoffs according to www.coolstandings.com.

Since only four teams make the playoffs we should see some tight series as teams grind it out and the schedule rounds third and heads for home. Here’s the rundown of the remaining teams vying for a post-season spot.

AL East:

Competitors and their Playoff Chances:

New York Yankees: 93.8%

Tampa Bay Rays: 93.3%

Boston Red Sox: 10.5%

Stretch Run Outlook:

Although the Red Sox still have a little greater than 10% chance of making the playoffs, it is looking more and more certain that they will be spending October at home for the first time since 2006. If you were to pick a random player from the Red Sox opening day roster, you would more than likely choose someone who has spent time on the DL this year.

Currently, the list of injured Red Sox includes Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury. The injuries, coupled with the ineffectiveness of Josh Beckett and John Lackey have essentially killed the Red Sox playoff hopes. While they still have a chance to get in, they picked up Detroit Tigers player Johnny Damon on waivers today hoping to increase their chances. Besides Damon, they would have to use a cast including several replacement players to get through the two strongest teams in baseball.

As you can see from the playoff odds, both the Rays and Yankees are likely to make the playoffs this year. The Yankees currently have a one game lead in the division and the Rays lead the Wild Card race by 5.5 games (over the Red Sox). The Chicago White Sox are the only non division leading AL East team that is even within 10 games of the Rays.

On the year, the Yankees have the best run-differential in all of baseball (followed closely by the Rays) and are leading the majors in runs scored. The Yanks are third in the AL in fewest runs allowed, so the pitching hasn’t been too shabby either.

The Rays on the other hand, have allowed the fewest runs while pushing the third most across the plate.

Over the rest of the season, the Yankees and Rays meet seven more times (four of them at Yankee Stadium), which could play a huge part in deciding who wins the division and who takes the Wild Card. The Rays currently hold the advantage between the two teams, with a 6-5 record and +1 run differential in 11 games against the Yankees.

While it probably won’t matter who wins the division and who takes the Wild Card (both teams will likely be the favorites to advance to the ALCS), I would put my money on the Yankees at this point. Although the return of Jeff Neimann will help, I think the Rays would have benefited from leaving Jeremy Hellickson in the starting rotation instead of Wade Davis.

AL Central:

Competitors and their Playoff Chances:

Minnesota Twins: 88.2%

Chicago White Sox: 13.5%

Stretch Run Outlook:

The Central originally looked like a three team race, but the Detroit Tigers have collapsed leaving the White Sox and Twins to battle for the Division.

Just 12 days ago on August 11^th, the Twins and White Sox were actually tied atop the division, but a Chicago cold streak and Minnesota hot streak have allowed the Twins to open up a five game lead over the White Sox.

Going forward, I just don’t see the White Sox catching the Twins. So far, the Twins have scored more runs and allowed fewer than the White Sox. The Twins also have a much larger group of players on the DL and will only get even stronger from here on out (especially when Justin Morneau returns).

The two teams face off only three times over the remainder of the season, which could be considered a positive or negative for the White Sox. The easiest way to make up ground is by playing head-to-head, but the White Sox are only 5-10 against the Twins so far this year, and might only stand to lose more if they played more often.

Although the White Sox have some hitters (specifically Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham) who have stepped up in the second half, they will struggle to play better than the more complete Twins team.

AL West:

Competitors and their Playoff Chances:

Texas Rangers: 92.4%

Both the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics have less than a five percent chance of making the playoffs, so the AL West doesn’t appear to be much of a race down the stretch. The Rangers have played the worst baseball (.561 winning percentage) of any division leader (they actually have only the fifth best record in the American League) yet still hold an eight game division lead. Thus far the Rangers have split the season series (6-6) with Oakland and hold a slight edge over (7-5) over Los Angeles so unless something drastic changes in the division, the Rangers should be coasting toward October and getting set to play the Wild Card winner.

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC