Who is UP and Whos down

As we are headed for the final stretch of the season, some teams should be excited and determined to give it all they got to finish out the season while others are most likely disappointed at where they stand right now and have nothing but the feeling of frustration bothering them day and night.

To start on a positive note, the Pittsburgh Pirates have had their first successful season in years behind the bat of Andrew McCutchen and the arms in their rotation including McDonald. They have been in a battle with the Reds all season for the lead in the NL Central, and though the Reds have pushed out to a 6.5 game lead the Pirates currently hold one of the two wildcard seats and are in good contention for at least one game in the postseason. This being the first time in a long time that the Pirates have made such a good run they should be determined to make sure it does not slip out of their fingers and put in their best to hold their current seat through September. After their big win in 19 innings against the Cardinals today, you would think they got confidence on their side.

The team with the hardest situation has got to be the Boston Red Sox. The Sox came into this new season with their new manager Bobby Valentine and an All-Star team that could do nothing but hit the DL. From Ellsbury to Crawford to Ortiz and back around to Crawford, with many more in between, the Red Sox have suffered all year from lack of offense and just a bad year on the mound. Beckett and Lester have not been themselves and the only life on the team seemed to be coming from Big Papi and Middlebrooks. With the great bat coming from their young third baseman, the Sox had no problem dishing Youkilis to Chicago just to end up with Middlebrooks on the DL for some time. Lots of heat has been brought to Bobby Valentine for the low performance of the Red Sox this season as they currently sit 13.5 games behind the Yankees. There still is slight hope for Boston to grab a wildcard seat as they are 7.5 games out of one of those seats, but the competition is high with the Angels, Orioles, A's, Rays, and Tigers fighting for a seat as well.

The Oakland A's have been a second half of the season surprise as not many people considered them to be in the mix this late into the season. I thought this was gonna be a Angels vs. Rangers fight all through the year, but the A's have shown that they are here to stay as the Angels have been slumping though they added a new ace to their staff. With Reddick and Cespedes leading the way in offense, the A's have been a clutch batting team coming through at the right time and getting runs through power and gap hits. The A's pitching has been much better than expected with Parker putting a lot of batters down. The only issue I would say stands in their way of making the postseason is their inconsistency. They seem to have a series such as their recent one against the Angels were they pour on the runs with lots of hits and homers, then they will have a series such as the one recently against the Jays were they can't get more than 1-2 runs a game. If they lean more towards the consistent side, they will have a better shot against the tough competition for a wildcard seat which they are currently only half a game out of.

Another team that should be stoked on their current standing and looking to never quit is the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their pick ups have been huge and even without their manger over the last two games they pushed over the Atlanta Braves without a problem. With their 5-0 victory today they now hold a half game lead over the Giants going into a series against them. Though Kemp missed a solid 51 games this season the Dodgers are right there in position to take a wildcard seat or the division. Their bats just need to keep it up, they had three consecutive homers the other day at Turner Field without Kemp or Either in the mix. With their other bats coming through like that more often, the Dodgers should be able to run away with the division, especially with their closest opponent recently weakened. From Hanley to Shane to Matt to Andre, the Dodgers look to now have a lineup that can take them far.

To finish things off, the let down team  has got to be the new Miami Marlins, with their new stadium and line of players, their fans just got to watch many of their stars get sent to other teams as the loses piled up. The buzz kill team goes to the Giants with their loss of Melky Cabrera, not that they are completely out of things, its just that it has been their division to lose all season. Now without their MVP bat for the rest of the season, things just are not looking good for them. And finally the way to go team has to be the White Sox, no one saw them doing well this year and yet they sit a top the central in front of the heavily favored Tigers hoping to never look back with their current 1.5 game lead.
LIKE ON FACEBOOK!!!
http://www.facebook.com/TBombsPicks?ref=hl