MLB: AL Central down to the wireThree teams, two playoff berths. So which American League Central club is going to be left out in the cold when the regular season comes to an end? Surprisingly, the Kansas City Royals might have a lot to say about that result. The Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins each have sets against the league doormats over the final two weeks, while the Chicago White Sox have no such luck. Here’s a look at the schedule for all three teams.
Detroit Tigers
The Tigers are desperately trying to hold onto first place in the AL Central, or, at the very least, hold onto a playoff berth in the Junior Circuit. The Twins made up several games on Detroit last week, and the Tigers will start off this week with a three-game set on the road versus the White Sox. Should Detroit take two or three games from Chicago, they’ll be looking pretty comfortable. The Tigers then play a makeup game against Baltimore on Thursday, face the Royals on the weekend, play host to the Blue Jays, and then end their regular-season schedule at home against the Royals yet again. However, with the way Detroit has been playing lately, not even a set against last-place Kansas City (who have played better in the past month) can be seen as a sure thing.
The Tigers are desperately trying to hold onto first place in the AL Central, or, at the very least, hold onto a playoff berth in the Junior Circuit. The Twins made up several games on Detroit last week, and the Tigers will start off this week with a three-game set on the road versus the White Sox. Should Detroit take two or three games from Chicago, they’ll be looking pretty comfortable. The Tigers then play a makeup game against Baltimore on Thursday, face the Royals on the weekend, play host to the Blue Jays, and then end their regular-season schedule at home against the Royals yet again. However, with the way Detroit has been playing lately, not even a set against last-place Kansas City (who have played better in the past month) can be seen as a sure thing.
Minnesota Twins
The Twins have a four-game homestand against the Royals left on their schedule – but that doesn’t come up until next week. Prior to that series Minnesota will go on the road to play both the Red Sox and the Orioles – two teams that have struggled of late. The Twins then finish out their regular-season schedule at home against the White Sox.
Who will Minnesota be rooting for early this week during the Tigers/ChiSox series? If Detroit pulls off a sweep it’ll hurt Chicago’s chances of catching Minnesota, but it’ll also hurt the Twins’ chances of catching the Tigers for the division title. Should the White Sox sweep, the Twins could find themselves in first place in the Central, but the division will have tightened up considerably. A 1-2 or 2-1 split might work out best for the Twins.
Chicago White Sox
We already know they play both Detroit (at home) and Minnesota (on the road) over the next two weeks. Sandwiched between those sets are series against the Mariners (in Chicago) and Indians (in Cleveland). If the ChiSox can take care of business against the Tigers they’ll be right back in the race, but a sweep by Detroit, combined with the Twins staying hot, would practically knock Chicago out of the playoff hunt. At the very least the White Sox need to stay within reach of the Twins to make that final series of the regular season mean something. One thing working in Minnesota’s favor in that scenario, though, is that they could toss out Johan Santana for a must-win game; the White Sox really don’t want to have to beat the Cy Young favorite in order to make the postseason.
We already know they play both Detroit (at home) and Minnesota (on the road) over the next two weeks. Sandwiched between those sets are series against the Mariners (in Chicago) and Indians (in Cleveland). If the ChiSox can take care of business against the Tigers they’ll be right back in the race, but a sweep by Detroit, combined with the Twins staying hot, would practically knock Chicago out of the playoff hunt. At the very least the White Sox need to stay within reach of the Twins to make that final series of the regular season mean something. One thing working in Minnesota’s favor in that scenario, though, is that they could toss out Johan Santana for a must-win game; the White Sox really don’t want to have to beat the Cy Young favorite in order to make the postseason.
What of the other two divisions in the American League? The Yankees have practically wrapped up the AL East title – although the Blue Jays could be a feisty opponent early this week as they try to move ahead of the Red Sox in the division. Regardless, though, New York is going to clinch one of the AL’s four playoff positions for the umpteenth time.
And the Athletics are almost certainly going to take another one. The A’s have had to scoreboard-watch the Angels a bit over the past week, but it would take a pretty big collapse for them to fall into second place in the AL West. Los Angeles will get their shot though – they still have two huge series left on their schedule against the rival Athletics.
The final day of the regular season is Sunday, October 1. Playoffs begin the next week.
