BY PAUL HOPE – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
With a month to go in the season, the race for the 2012 MLB wild card spots is heating up. Here’s a look at the current contenders in the National League heading into the stretch run.
I’ll tell you which teams I think will come out on top, and if any of the division leaders will fall.
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1. Atlanta Braves
With a record of 76-59, they are numero uno currently in the wild card race. They have a 3.5 game lead on the Dodgers, but as we saw last season that may not mean anything. After the epic collapse of 2011, they will be out to prove not only to themselves, but also to everyone else, that they are for real. And they have the schedule left to do it too.
Atlanta has 27 games remaing, and only six of them are against above .500 teams. This is a case where the Braves will sink or swim by either putting away the teams they should, or by playing down to the competition.
2. St. Louis Cardinals
The reigning World Series Champions are in a dogfight for the second wild card spot. They have the upper hand right now, but by a mere half a game over the Dodgers, and 2.5 games over the Pirates. They have a nine game stretch later this month against the Astros and Cubs, and they need to take full advantage of that.
Also, they have a four game series against the Dodgers next week, and that is the only series they have against an above .500 team between now and the 28th. By the time they face Washington and Cincinnati to end the season, those teams could have clinched playoff spots already and be resting some of their key players.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
They’ve certainly made some noise this season in the trades they have made, and if that determined who makes the playoffs, they’d be a shoe-in. However, even acquiring Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett (plus the injured Carl Crawford) may not be enough for this Dodgers team.
They have the toughest schedule left of any contender, and combine that with the weak schedules the Braves, Cardinals and Pirates have left, the Dodgers newly acquired stars cannot afford to have an adjustment period. They could still catch the Giants for the NL West title too, and have a very important six games left against them, including the last series of the season.
4. Pittsburgh Pirates
The Cardinals lead them by 2.5 games, and don’t have any games left against their division rival this season. Pittsburgh will have to take care of business against everyone else if they are to make it.
Fortunately for them, they have the lowest opponent winning percentage of any contender for the rest of the season. They have 12 games left against the Astros and Cubs, and that alone could push them into the playoffs. The final series of the year for them is against Atlanta, which could very well determine who’s in and who’s out.
In the end, this race I think is going to be very exciting, and it won’t surprise me at all if it goes down to the final day of the season. We could even see a one game playoff for the one game playoff. Predicting this is very difficult, but I’ll give it a shot anyways.
I’ll go with St. Louis because they are the defending champs, and they know how to get things done. The second team I’ll say Atlanta. They have a nice cushion right now, and Chipper Jones alone could will the team to the playoffs in his final season.
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