The National League has been the focus of much of my Homestretch series, and there's a simple reason for it - that league is where the races are. The American League has been all but decided: New York, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, and Texas are almost certainly playoff-bound. Tonight's results help solidify that, with both the Twins and Rays extending their leads and the Rangers keeping the A's at bay thanks to another dramatic walk-off win. You can bet Nelson Cruz was involved in it.
Yet there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the National League and the four teams it will send to the postseason. The Reds seem to be in pretty good shape in the Central, but the East and West are far from decided. San Diego came up with a huge win today, setting up a colossal matchup tomorrow between Mat Latos and Tim Lincecum. Atlanta also came up big at the expense of the Cardinals, who are fading fast. And Colorado won for the ninth straight time behind Ubaldo Jimenez. What's really remarkable is that the top six teams in the National League, as of tonight, are only separated by 3.5 games. All of them deserve to be in the playoffs, but two of them will not be come season's end. One of those teams will be from the West, and we'll see about the other one. For now, none of those teams are going away, and with three weeks left in the schedule, any baseball fan cannot help but be excited to witness the outcomes of these tight races.
If the NL division races were set in Zombieland, then it would truly be time to "put up or shut up." We'll see who does the talking as September continues to fade.
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