Pennant Fever!
Now things are getting interesting. The Chicago White Sox swept the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers have now lost five in a row (though they are still 5.5 games ahead of the ChiSox in first). The top three teams in the AL Central have winning percentages of .650 (Detroit), .603 (Chicago) and .581 (Twins). I fear the AL Central.
For a study in contrasts, turn to the AL West, where a .556 winning percentage is enough to put Oakland is 4.5 games ahead in first. The NL West is even crappier—the Dodgers are first, playing .521 ball. No wonder the last-place Giants are just 6.5 games behind them. But it beats the NL Central, where there are just two teams (out of six) over .500. So you have some close races in those divisions, but if you’re a Twins fan it hardly seems fair.
While no team in the AL East can match Chicago or Detroit, the Red Sox (yay!) are back within a game of the Yankees. Today at the Fens, a cheer went up from the crowd when the number “9″ was removed from the inning slot in the manual scoreboard, signifying the end of the Angels-Yankees game and, thus, New York’s loss to Anaheim. So pennant fever rages pretty consistently across the entire United States, with virulent outbreaks near the Great Lakes and New England. Lingering pennant sniffles hover over the West coast.
In fact, the only place there doesn’t seem to be a scorching case is Queens. The Mets, of course, are running away with the NL East title. They’re 15 games ahead and the only team over .500. Yawn.
August 14th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
How can the west coast only have “pennant sniffles” if the last place team is only 6.5 games out??? That means all the teams are still in it! The western divisions have much more raging pennant fevers than the easts or the centrals because there are way more teams with a shot, rather than just the top 2 or 3.
A good pennant race has nothing to do with winning percentage – it’s all about how close together the teams are, and how many teams there are.
Report this comment
August 14th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
I just don’t see how you West Coasters can be excited about a bunch of teams who are all in the running because they are all mediocre….sorry. :(
Report this comment
August 14th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Ugh, WHAT is that hideous yellow face on my comment. I am not excited about THAT, sportsfans!
Report this comment
August 15th, 2006 at 2:52 am
Well, since they brought back the unbalanced schedule, it is really hard to know if teams in a given division are closely bunched because they are all bad, or because they are all good, since they mostly only play each other.
Maybe the teams at the top of the AL Central and the AL East are good, or maybe they just look good because they get to beat up on teams like the Royals, D-Rays, and Orioles.
Report this comment
August 15th, 2006 at 8:50 am
Ah! Touche!
Now go write a caption. :)
Report this comment