Only a few weeks remain in Major League Baseball’s regular season and there’s no reason for fans not to be thrilled; we’ve got fantastic finishes shaping up all around the league. In the National League West, the collapsing San Diego Padres, steady San Francisco Giants, and surging Colorado Rockies are battling for the division crown as well as the NL wildcard. Every win is now crucial for each of these teams, and all those seemingly worthless games from back in the spring have suddenly become relevant.
Entering the last week of August, things in the NL West looked to be settling down. The Padres, who’d been leading the division most of the year, were 27 games over .500 and had their biggest advantage of the season over their upstate rival Giants, at 7.5 games. The Rockies were less than 10 games over .500 and more than 10 games behind San Diego, looking like they were going to coast to a mediocre finish. Then as Labor Day approached upheaval began and we were all reminded why a 162 game schedule is a beautiful thing.
The Padres hit their worst skid of the season, tying the 1932 Pirates for the longest losing streak, 10 games, of any team still in first place. Even playing only .500 ball, the Giants were brought back into the picture and by last Friday had pulled themselves to a tie. While those two California teams were struggling to stay afloat, the Rockies caught fire out in Colorado. They put together a 10 game winning streak and by this week had closed to within three games of the division lead.
The Rockies have one more three game homestand against the Giants beginning September 24th, but avoiding the complete collapse of the Padres the most interesting series remaining in the National League will be a three game matchup between San Diego and San Francisco to conclude the regular season. If we’re lucky maybe we’ll even get a Bobby Thomson-like walk off from Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval to help “The Giants win the pennant!” (Or the division, as the case may be).
But let us not forget those men in purple riding their Rocky Mountain high. The Rockies made it to the World Series in 2007 led by the same Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton and have since added slugger Carlos Gonzalez (.341, 32 HR, 106 RBI) and ace hurler Ubaldo Jimenez (18-6, no-hitter). They seem to be peaking at just the right time in the season and if they can keep this momentum up down the stretch that will remain in contention.
However, my personal pick to win is the Giants, if only for two subjective reasons. The first reason is that living in Reno the past few years we got all the Giants games on television and I watching them I came to be quite a fan, not of the actual team, but of some of its individual characters. The Kung Fu Panda not only has arguably the best current nickname in sports, but he is a blast to watch for his unforeseen portly ninja-ness and smiley exuberance, much like the voice behind the big screen Kung Fu Panda, Jack Black. I’m also a fan of any player brash enough to wear shoes so neon they break the league rules, and closer Brian Wilson’s orange cleats did just that. Furthermore, B-Weezy spends his pregame time throwing Frisbee-golf discs around the stadium and is just an all-around wild thing, the type of unpredictable personality that any fan loves to watch close games. I even root for him to get into jams, just because it is so entertaining to watch him get riled up.
Then there is the coolest dude in baseball, Tim Lincecum. He is a scrawny fireballer who smokes pot in his VW Bus when he isn’t out surfing or winning back to back Cy Young awards, sort of like Bill Lee only less outspoken and more dominant. Big Time Timmy Jim had a rough August, but seems to have worked through the funk and has now won his last three starts. With these guys all doing their thing down the stretch, not only will the Giants be one hell of a team to enjoy watching but they will have a very strong chance of making it into the playoffs.
The second reason I’ll be rooting for the Giants is simply because any team who goes into a slump as atrocious as the Padres this late in the year does not deserve the opportunity of post-season play. The Rockies have been laying it on the line this month and that is the same kind of momentum that carried them to the World Series three years ago. Hopefully they can climb over the slumping Padres to once again have a shot at the World Series.
Whatever happens between these three teams, it will be a lot of fun seeing how things unfold.
