With 40 games remaining in the regular season there are only 3 divisional races that will provide any suspense down the stretch. The Texas Rangers have buried the Anaheim Angels, Philadelphia (the best team in baseball) is running away from Atlanta like Secretariat, and the Milwaukee Brewers have put St. Louis in their rear view mirror. There are wild card berths of course so the aforementioned teams still have something to play for. Here is my prediction for the other 3 compelling divisional races.
AL East: Boston Red Sox. I'm not a big Red Sox fan, but they are a hitting machine right now. Adrian Gonzalez is the free agent signing of the year right now. The Yankees are still stacked, but until Mariano Rivera works out his issues New York is very vulnerable.
AL Central: Chicago White Sox. Manager Ozzie Guillen is a headcase yet the White Sox continue to fight for him. Chicago has 9 games remaining against 2nd place Cleveland and 6 games left against division leading Detroit. In between those contests are 7 games with the Kansas City Royals and 3 games against the Mariners. The schedule is definitely in their favor.
NL West: San Francisco Giants. The defending World Series champs find themselves looking up at the Arizona Diamondbacks late in the season. Kudos to Kirk Gibson for turning that organization around and creating a winning atmosphere. The Diamondbacks are playing over their heads however and the Giants experience will be the difference in late September. Look for Carlos Beltran to get hot and carry these guys for a few weeks.
American League Wild Card: New York Yankees.
National League Wild Card: Atlanta Braves.
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