It’s pretty safe to say that the National League has been running things in baseball if the past two seasons are any indicators. Now here we are in Baseball’s final two weeks of the regular season, and the addition of a second wild card has caused nothing but intrigue as promised.
Now let me emphasis, this is a battle for the second wild card spot which is the newest addition to baseball and is so far having brilliant results. With the Atlanta Braves with a current 6.5 lead for the first wild card spot Baseball’s buckling down and conceding to the much desired 2nd wild card is a step in the right direction.
Currently there are five teams within at most 5 games of he final wild card spot: The Dodgers, Cardinals, Pirates, Phillies and Brewers. Yes, the much vaunted Phillies have somehow crawled out from the depths of despair to make a push for a wildcard spot. The Dodgers are 7.5 games behind the first place Giants despite their shiny new pieces from Boston and are too, vying for that wilcard spot in which they’re one game behid.
Perhaps the most surprising story however, is that of the Milwaukee Brewers. A season in which they dealt with the loss of big bat Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun’s whole steroids ordeal they’ve managed to comeback to be relevant in this race despite being .500 for most of the season. The Brewers are just 2.5 games behind the Dodgers, and the Phillies are just 2 games behind–I’ll tie in the Cardinals who are 1 game ahead of the Dodgers and the Pirates are 2.5 behind the Cardinals and we officially have the makings of a NL conundrum.
If your mind is pacing just relax, they don’t call it a pennant race for nothing. There are 17 games remaining for the majority of teams and more than enough time for any of the aforementioned 5 teams to make up ground or surpass the other. Unlike the relative consistency in the AL the NL hosts a myriad of possibilities. Considering the fact the St Louis Cardinals who made the playoffs in that wild final night of baseball’s regular season then went on to win the Fall classic, this is something you’ll really have to see to believe.