much can change in a few short days. the a’s are now out of the picture. too bad. i like watching that team. so now we are left with the white sox, indians, red sox, yankees, and angels.

at the beginning of this whole preview, i was ready to put the yankees and red sox both into the playoffs. i couldn’t decide which one was the wild card. i have changed my mind about this.

the boston red sox–you ARE the WEAKEST LINK. goodbye. i love boston’s offense very much. i adore david ortiz as a hitter. what gets it done in the playoffs? pitching. the yankees have been making better use of their pitching staff. they have rivera. he’s pretty good. they also have an offense that’s almost as good as boston’s. i think the yankees have the edge here, and they are going to win the AL east. this is still a series worth keeping an eye on this weekend.

the pitching edge also goes to the indians over boston. their starters have been terrific and they have one of the best bullpens in the AL. that’s more than a significant advantage. i love the way the indians have been playing down the stretch, and while they might not sweep the white sox, i say they win more games than the red sox.

to summarize — the yankees and indians join the angels and white sox in the playoffs. more analysis to come after the matchups are finalized.

Technorati : MLB, cleveland indians, new york yankees, red sox