![]() ![]() Louis Cardinals have a shot at the postseason too. And then you've got Cubs, Brewers, Dodgers, Rockies. ![]() It's really six because we know Atlanta's in. It's not even just five teams that we're talking about because five make the postseason Pro league. He's going win the Rookie of the Year most likely. They came out of nowhere - bunch of young guys, including a guy named Ronald Acuna Jr. And unless you're the mom of one of the Atlanta Braves, you probably didn't think the Atlanta Braves were going to make the postseason this year. The only team that's clinched right now is the Atlanta Braves. In the West, that's a half-a-game margin as well - the Dodgers and the Rockies. Both of those teams have been really good. They haven't actually even clinched yet oddly because they're being chased down by the Milwaukee Brewers. KERI: It's an open question because the team with the best record in the entire league right now, the Cubs, has an outside chance of missing the postseason. But who's going to emerge from this group that can really challenge the American League champ in the World Series? And then meanwhile, the National League has, you know, people who are pretty good. Those home runs, combined with a devastating bullpen and the best defense in the entire American League, have enabled the A's to overcome what's been the lowest payroll in all of baseball.ĬORNISH: All right, so you have the American League, where they have these like big bad teams - right? - you know, four best records in baseball. They did it before the curve so that when we learned, hey, the baseball's juiced, which is a recent revelation, it turned out Oakland already had the roster to take advantage of that. And they've done it by identifying a lot of players who hit a bunch of fly balls. They have the second most home runs in the American League. It used to be that "Moneyball" was about on-base percentage, and now it's about home run hitting oddly. KERI: They really have done a great job of exploiting market inefficiencies. And yet right now, they're the hottest - one of the hottest teams anyway in baseball. They finished last in their division in the past three years. ![]() Otherwise, given that the Yankees and Astros and Cleveland and Oakland are so good, it might not be so easy for the Red Sox.ĬORNISH: All right, I want to come back to Oakland now because they have the lowest payroll in baseball. Both he and Chris Sale will need to prove themselves. He's got to $217 million contract - very good in the regular season typically. That's one.Īnd then two is David Price, who's one of the biggest enigmas in all of baseball. So they don't know how many innings he'll be able to give them in the postseason. But the problem is he spent time on the disabled list this year, and he's just now ramping up his workload. So if you look at their top two starters - or arguably their top two starters - one is Chris Sale, terrific lefthander. Martinez, who for a while was making a run at the Triple Crown which is a very, very rare feat in baseball - and just a loaded offense. ![]() KERI: Well, they actually might be because if you look at this team, they do have the likely most valuable player in the league - Mookie Betts. It seems ridiculous to ask if the team that's won 106 games is vulnerable in the playoffs. Then they've slowed down a bit, right? So now we're wondering if they're merely one of the best. Welcome to the program.ĬORNISH: So the Red Sox were at one point forcing experts to wonder if this team could be the best ever. But to help us out, we have Jonah Keri of CBS Sports. And in the National League, well, no one can figure that out yet. And the Oakland A's have confounded everyone again by being great when they should be terrible. The Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros are scary good. Here's what we can say with just a few games left in Major League Baseball's regular season. ![]()
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