Race Day: A Look at the AL Playoff Races

About the Wild Card Race
Boston: By winning two of three against Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, the Red Sox left the Rays’ playoff hopes in critical condition. The teams play three more times, at Fenway Park, next weekend. In the meantime, the Red Sox, having won eight of their last 10, head to Chicago to finish off their road trip. RHP Paul Byrd, who came pitched six shutout innings on three hits against Toronto in his first start of the season last week, pitches for Boston.

Since losing two of three to the Rangers in Arlington in mid-August, the Red Sox are 12-4. Only the Yankees have a better record (12-3) in that time span. And the only reason the Yankees have that half-game edge is because they won two of three between  the teams during the last three weeks. The Red Sox aren’t doing it with pitching, though. They have a 5.16 ERA in that 16-game span. But OF J.D. Drew (.362), 1B-3B Kevin Youkilis (.344) and C-1B Victor Martinez (.322) have made the Red Sox offense all but unstoppable. Martinez, acquired from Cleveland right before the July 31 trade deadline was in the middle of Boston two-run rallies in both the first and the seventh.

Tampa Bay: Playing from behind is enough of a challenge for the Rays, but their path seems to get tougher and togher. From the Red Sox Series they go into three with AL Central-leading Detroit. After that, they kick off an 11-game road trip with a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium and also visit Fenway for the final time this season. Oh, and, if the schedule doesn’t present enough challenges, the Detroit series kicks off with Tigers RHP Justin Verlander, a Cy Young frontrunner, facing RHP Randy Nieman.

Nieman’s strong summer, however, has been on e of the reasons the Rays were able to deal LHP Scott Kazmir. Since June 1, Nieman is 8-1 with a 3.47 ERA. He received a hard-luck no decision in his last start, which just happened to be at Detroit agianst Verlander. Nieman went seven innings and allowed a pair of runs on five hits. He left with a 2-0 lead after allowing a leadoff double to start the eighth, but the bullpen could not stop the Tigers. RHP Grant Balfour allowed a two-out walk to Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco homered on a 2-and-0 count.

About the AL West Race
Los Angeles: Visiting the AL’s worst team, the Angels will try to avoid matching the team’s worst losing streak of the season tonight: Three games. Yes, Los Angeles, which lost the last two at Seattle, has not lost more than three games this season. There have been three streaks of three straight losses, the last coming June 20-22. Before that, the Angels were swept in three game at Rangers Ballpark (May 15-17) and were swept in Minnesota (April 17-19).

Chances are pretty fair they’ll avoid the three-game streak, though.The Angels have won all six meetings against the putrid Royals this season, outscoring the Royals 36-17. RHP Jered Weaver (13-5, 3.89 ERA), coming off six shutout innings of four-hit ball against Oakland, will pitch for the Angels. The one note of optimism for scoreboard-watchnig Rangers fans about this matchup is that Weaver has lost his last four games against Kansas City. In his last outing against the Royals, May 7, 2008 in Kansas City, he was chased after allowing eight runs in 3.1 innings.

If The Playoffs Started Today
Detroit @New York; Boston @Los Angeles