AL Wildcard Will Be A Race

by user Xinoph

For most of the season, fans, managers, players, and analysts alike have been awarding the American League Wildcard to the second-place finisher from the AL Central. Papers from coast to coast have been declaring the run of the Red Sox & Yankees both making the playoffs as over. Even Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez has announced that the Bronx Bombers need to beat the BoSox to make the playoffs. Hold your horses there, folks. Let's not annoint anyone yet. As of today - July 19 - the Yankees were just three games behind the World Champion Chicago White Sox. Take a look at the overall American League Standings, with current division leaders in bold:

As we can all see, there's no reason to be sure of anything at this point. The injury-plagued New York team has been on a tear of late, putting them less than a game behind their archrivals, and within striking distance of the wildcard.
Last year, you'll recall, everyone was saying that the Wildcard team would come from the AL Central as well. Everyone was putting their money on the red-hot comeback kids - the Cleveland Indians - stealing away the wildcard from the AL East, at long last. We all know what happened next: the Tribe fell apart the last week of the season, the Red Sox and Yankees finished the year in a dead tie, and the division was awarded to the Yankees based on head-to-head record while the BoSox got the wildcard.
While the scenario probably won't be quite as wild this year - Boston and New York don't face each other to finish the season, for one thing - there's no reason to count anyone out of the wildcard yet. Any of the teams currently in the hunt could fall apart, or the Twins or the Jays could get hot enough to make the wildcard a three or even four team race.
The season isn't over, and none of us know what will happen - so none of you should count on your team getting the wildcard. This is why it's always best to not even worry about that last playoff spot and just gun for the division.

Date

Wed 07/19/06, 11:12 am EST

DNLLegend

1082 days ago

Score 5

No love for the Jays, huh?

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XinophDraft Pick

1082 days ago

Score -2

You might notice I put the top 5 teams in there, but I'll throw the Jays in, why not

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XinophDraft Pick

1082 days ago

Score -2

I recalculated and rewrote, figured them in :)

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

1082 days ago

Score 2

umm... every team that is 69 1/2 GB (give or take) or less still has a chance according to the latest 'math'.

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FriskysmanVarsity Captain

1082 days ago

Score 2

Just for laughs, I thought it would be fun to apply your logic from comments about the Blue Jays to this situation. Therefore, get back to me when the Yankees pass the White Sox big guy. Until then, you're wrong.

Hehe. It's fun being Xino.

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XinophDraft Pick

1082 days ago

Score -3

Oh what, you mean my third-place comments? Wait, that doesn't make any sense either. The Yankees are in second place in the wildcard. What fictional comments might you be referring to, exactly? Did I ever say "Well, if a team is more than two games back, I can't ever mention them"? Because that's the only comment that would have any bearing on this article, near as I can tell. Maybe you want to read what I write more carefully.

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FriskysmanVarsity Captain

1082 days ago

Score 1

Oh I can assure you there are no "fictional" comments, just those you wrote that you evidently felt so confident about that you can't even remember them now. I guess I need to refresh your memory. You completely wrote off the Jays for no apparent reason other than you being such an expert on the AL East because your Red Sox reside there. You guaranteed the Jays won't be in second place for more than 48 hours for any point remaining in the season and when I made a comment that the Jays still had a good chance of winning the division, you childishly said "Get back to me when the Jays are even in second, big guy. Until then I'm right." Yet, when it comes to the Yankees, well of course anything is possible. While I DO believe anything is possible for a good number of teams within striking distance, including the Yankees and the Jays, I was merely pointing out your ludicrousness by throwing your own words back at you.

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XinophDraft Pick

1078 days ago

Score -3

I wrote them off in the AL East, genius. You might notice this is an article about the wildcard, which is, you know, different. I never said they weren't in the running for the playoffs. Try reading what I wrote at some point, in either article, and you might understand that well.

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XinophDraft Pick

1078 days ago

Score -2

This article has nothing to do with that article. This article is about the WILDCARD RACE. That article was about the DIVISION, which in my world are two different things, even if they aren't in yours. Yes, until the Jays manage to get into second place, I am writing them off FOR THE DIVISION. Hint: usually it's better to READ what people actually write, THEN respond to it.

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XinophDraft Pick

1078 days ago

Score -2

BTW, I'm glad being a Cleveland Indians fan makes you such an expert on every single team in the AL East. I wasn't aware that came with the territory. From now on I'll remember that questioning the opinions of people from Cleveland is, in your words, "childish".

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FriskysmanVarsity Captain

1078 days ago

Score 3

The point is not what race you wrote who off in, it's that you wrote off one team that is 4.5 games out, even guaranteeing that they will never see second place for more than 48 hours (which they are only 2 games out of, by the way), but then you say of another team that is 2.5 games out (not to mention all of their injuries) that anything can happen. My point in the comparison is that you're an idiot for thinking anything can happen in one case but guaranteeing something won't happen in another, when only 2 games separate those teams. And by the way, I know it's hard for you to understand how a person could know anything about teams outside of the division they follow most closely, but some of us do actually pay attention to things other than the east coast, believe it or not. You might give it a try sometime.

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XinophDraft Pick

1074 days ago

Score -2

Sorry, if it was a different race different rules apply and any comparison is irrelevant. Try actually responding to what I wrote sometime, instead of what you wish I wrote. I wrote off Toronto from the AL East because they'd had injuries and even without them Boston and New York were better; it was based on analysis, not how many games back they were. BTW, today they're 6 games out and have never been in second place for more than 48 hours. Oh wait, does that mean I'm still right so far? Yes it does! Gosh, how surprising. Go home and use your schoolyard argument tactics with the other children.

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XinophDraft Pick

1074 days ago

Score -3

It must be fun being Frisk and being right all the time. I think it's kind of pathetic to ahte any team just because you're jealous of the attention they get. Really quite childish.

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FriskysmanVarsity Captain

1074 days ago

Score 1

Funny how you come out of the woodwork only when Toronto falls back a few games. Let me guess, you will never show your face in this article again if Toronto actually takes over second place for 2 days. Oh, and might I remind you that there are still over two months of baseball to be played.

And by the way, your logic makes absolutely no sense. Just because you're talking about two different races means that one team can come back while another can't? Have you by any chance noticed that New York has injuries as well? That Boston has nearly the equivalent of an entire starting rotation on the DL? You talk about my so-called schoolyard argument tactics, your tactics don't even rise to that level.

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XinophDraft Pick

1071 days ago

Score -2

Funny how you never respond to any thing I actually say. Do you actually read anything here at all?

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XinophDraft Pick

1071 days ago

Score -1

You know, if that's the condition by which I can comment on this article, I fully expect to comment on this article two or three times a day until the end of September.

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FriskysmanVarsity Captain

1071 days ago

Score 1

And it wouldn't surprise me at all if you did that, considering the level of maturity you have been displaying since I came here.

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XinophDraft Pick

1082 days ago

Score -3

None of that made any sense, really. I said I didn't included the Jays because I initially included the top five teams in the AL. How does that relate to the Yankees and the White Sox, both of whom are firmly entrenched in the Top Five? Oh wait, it doesn't. Get back to me when you can make some sense. Maybe next time try reading what I write, *then* commenting on it?

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