MLB regular season is coming to a close!
By: Ryan Duda
Staff writer
With the Major League Baseball regular season coming to a close, teams are making their final pushes to clinch a playoff spot.
Wild Card races in both Leagues are intense with only a handful of games to end the season. Multiple teams have clinched a playoff berth, giving their bullpen’s pitchers a chance to rest their arms.
The National League has been partially set in stone with the Dodgers and Braves already punching their ticket into the Postseason. The Dodgers roster has been great all around the entire season, with a majority of their players staying off the Injured List.
The story from the Braves clubhouse has been nothing but success during the second half of the season. A few losses scattered throughout the past month of baseball may have taken a toll on the team, but their offense has been putting up big numbers as of late, from stars like Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies.
The fight for the National League Central and Wild Card has been intense for several teams. The National League Central race has been so close that three teams from the division can make the playoffs. This time of year has also been rough for teams like the Milwaukee Brewers, with their star outfielder Christian Yelich getting injured to end his season right at the final playoff push.
In the American League, the races for a Postseason spot are way less competitive, as each division has a frontrunner team to come out on top. These AL postseason contenders are coming out hot heading into extra baseball.
Teams like the Yankees have been going through injuries the entire season, having players go back and forth from the Injured List and returning to play week after week. With all these bumps in the road for New York, one would have expected their season to be over months ago. They’ve been running on a ‘Next Man Up’ mentality it seems, as any player that gets put in the lineup is hitting home runs and making crazy plays.
Reliever Dellin Betances just returned to the 40-man roster after being away from the team all season. This push coming from the Yankees is sending them in the right direction right before the postseason starts.
Other teams in the American League like the Houston Astros have been hot all season and haven’t looked back since the All Star break. They had a small hiccup recently against the Athletics for a three game skid, but have since picked right back up where they left off beating the Royals down, not missing a beat.
George Springer and Alex Bregman have been the offensive fuel to the fire for this 2019 Astros roster, but hands down all of this success is bred from their pitching rotation. With arms like Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke and Gerrit Cole, this team is a tough one to beat. It is also safe to say the Minnesota Twins will also seal a spot to play October baseball.
The Wild Card race for the American League teams is way less up in the air compared to the National League as there are only 3 teams fighting for 2 spots to play in a Wild Card game.
As the regular season concludes, these matchups will be getting more intense. Don’t be surprised if any of these Wild Card contenders start sneaking up the standings and take some spots in the coming weeks.