In this week’s AL Playoff Watch: Can the Seattle Mariners make a late run for the top place of the AL West standings? Will the Texas Rangers stop their cold streak this week? Are the Tampa Bay Rays still alive for the AL East crown? Is the season over for the Cleveland Guardians?
AL Playoffs Weekly Watch: Scorching Seattle, Resilient Rays, Trouble in Texas
AL East: The Tampa Bay Balboas
Even after a week from hell, the Rays seem to refuse to give up on their AL East title chances. After the news regarding Shane McClanahan and Wander Franco hit one after the other, the entire MLB fandom was ready to declare the Rays cursed. With 4 starting pitchers injured and their best player out indefinitely, a collapse appeared imminent. Yet, it never came. Tampa Bay won four out of five last week and closed the distance with the Baltimore Orioles to only two games. A difference they can decrease further this week, as they face the Colorado Rockies, the Miami Marlins and the worst team the New York Yankees have put on the field in 30 years. They might have been knocked down. But the Rays are definitely not out.
The only kind of home run Osleivis Basabe knows how to hit is the grand slam variety.
So far, anyway. pic.twitter.com/iJax1q46R1
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 23, 2023
At the top, the Orioles are feeling the Rays coming back for the title. And while a 3-2 week is a positive, they need to show they can beat quality opponents consistently. This is exactly what they will face in this series against the Toronto Blue Jays, who are fighting for Wild Card seeding. The rest of their week might be lowly Colorado and the Chicago White Sox, but they must be careful. Tampa Bay is ready to pounce, and this far into the season, every win counts.
While the race for the division title is getting tighter, the Wild Card teams are losing ground. Right now, both the Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox are out of the Wild Card. Both have played subpar recently. And both have rough weeks coming up. Toronto has a tough series against the Orioles, the desperate Guardians, and an emerging Washington Nationals squad while being one game back of the last Playoff spot. Boston has it even worse, with seven games against the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers, while almost being out of the Wild Card race completely.
AL West: A New Challenger
In the West, things aren’t looking great for the Rangers. What should have been a manageable week turned into a nightmare, as Texas lost all six of their games, allowing the Mariners and the Astros to gain significant ground on them in the standings. Their bats have gone silent, scoring more than two runs only once over six outings. And with a week against above-average teams in the Minnesota Twins and the New York Mets, who have been playing well recently, their fans can only hope they will snap out of this cold streak sooner rather than later.
The Rangers lose 6-3. Six in a row. They lead Houston by .5 games and Seattle by 1. Buckle up. Turbulence ahead.
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) August 23, 2023
Half a game back, the Astros are looking to seize this opportunity. They did have an average week, going 3-3. And they don’t necessarily have the softest schedule coming up, going against the desperate Red Sox and hopeful Detroit Tigers. But Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez are regaining form, and the offense picked up the pace recently. This might be the Astros’ chance to gain an edge over Texas before their series in September. However, that might be of lesser importance. Because the duel for the West is now a three-way fight.
This is going to be fun 🍿 pic.twitter.com/Hg0CfaolX7
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 23, 2023
Here come the scorching Mariners, riding another hot streak. Seattle has, once again, won eight games in a row, making them 16-4 over their last 20. With the help of Julio Rodriguez and his 17 hits in four games, they swept their rival the Astros. This helped the Mariners climb within 1/2 game of Houston, and only one game from the division title. Also, Seattle has a soft schedule this week. It features the White Sox, the Kansan City Royals, and the Oakland A’s. This might be the opportunity for Seattle to emerge as the dark horse World Series contender. And they look ready to seize it.
We might have to start calling them the Wariners. 🔱 pic.twitter.com/sKasfJy4Zg
— MLB (@MLB) August 23, 2023
AL Central: The Last Chance?
Time has passed, and not much has changed in the relentless mediocrity that is the AL Central. The Twins might have only won two games last week and looked quite suspect, and frankly, undeserving of a playoff spot, but the Guardians didn’t fair much better. So the 4 1/2 games difference between the two turned to five.
With less than 40 games left in the season, there aren’t many opportunities for Cleveland to win this division. However, one of them is this coming week in a series against Minnesota. They also face the Dodgers and Blue Jays, as their rival faces the Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers, but this series is the pivotal moment. If the Twins win all three games, their lead over them gets too big, and the division is essentially won, barring a historic collapse. However, if Cleveland sweeps them? The race to the playoff spot is back on.
Playoff Picture
The Baltimore Orioles have increased their lead over the Rangers, and both are losing ground for their division title. Minnesota holds the third-division winner spot and is looking to secure it this week. In the Wild Card round, the Rays hold a comfortable 4 1/2 game lead, while the Astros, Mariners, and Blue Jays are fighting over the fifth and sixth spots in the standings, all within two games of each other, with Boston barely holding on, five games back.
The AL is shaping up to be a seven team race for six playoff spots. Hopefully, for our entertainment, it will stay that way until the very last game.
Main photo credits:
Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
