Don’t you just love September?
We’re certainly being given a lot of reasons to love September this year. The races are getting hot down the stretch. Both leagues are seeing the Wild Card races become an all-out war zone.
In the National League, the race is as tight as ever. The Padres and Reds are currently tied for the second Wild Card. But both teams have played sub-par baseball as of late.
The Padres saw themselves get swept in a crucial three game set with the Dodgers over the weekend, as they nearly had a perfect game thrown against them by Max Scherzer in Sunday’s series finale.
Even worse, their own starter, Blake Snell, had to leave the game after just two batters due to an injury. Manager Jayce Tingler believes it’s left adductor tightness.
“It’s something he’s dealt with in the past,” said Tingler. “It usually doesn’t come on until the sixth or the seventh inning. For whatever reason, today it tightened up on him early.”
The Padres now have to deal with the Giants, who still own baseball’s best record and reached 93 wins with a sweep over the Cubs.
The Reds got a dominant start from Sonny Gray in yesterday’s game against the Cardinals. Gray went seven innings and allowed just two runs on Nolan Arenado’s first inning homer. The problem was, Cincinnati’s offense was dead.
“We want to win, that’s for sure,” Gray said. “We just have to keep trucking along and see where we come out on the other side.”
The Reds have the Pirates for three this week before heading out to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers.
The Cardinals, who were 8 ½ games behind of the Wild Card on August 9, have pulled to within a game with three weeks to go in the season, mirroring their September surge from 2011.
After a heartbreaking series loss in Milwaukee, the Cardinals rebounded, splitting a four game series with the Dodgers and taking two of three from the Reds for the second time this month.
“It’s a huge one. It’s a big win today,” said T.J. McFarland after yesterday’s win. “But to be honest, all these wins from here to the end of the season are going to be big wins. Obviously, against Cincinnati and the fact that we won the series, go into New York getting the ball rolling-we have a lot of momentum right now.”
They’ll head to New York for a three game series against the Mets before heading back home to take on the Padres.
The Mets and Phillies are both still in the race. New York managed to take the Subway series from the Yankees to knock them out of a playoff spot. Philadelphia lost two of three to the Rockies, but were able to stay within 2 ½ of San Diego and Cincinnati.
With three weeks left in the season, things are only going to get more interesting from here.
Strap in, folks. We’re in for a “wild” ride.
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