AL Wild Wild card race

Phil Gurnee ♦ August 14, 2017 ♦ 1 Comment

The Yankee’s did enough at the trade deadline that most figured they would not only handily win a wild card spot but overtake the Boston Red Sox and win the AL East outright.  They started out that way proving the few skeptics (me) wrong and the majority correct.  Several games after the big trades the Yankees were sitting in first place by 1/2 a game on July 31st.  But hold on, that was as big a lead as they got, as they have fallen from being in 1st place to 5.5 games back in a span of twelve games. Turns out you need more than just a killer bullpen to win games. Who knew?

Meanwhile, the Angels were given little chance in the hectic wild card race for the second spot (everyone assumed the Yankees or Red Sox have the first one locked up)  but with Trout back in the lineup the Angels came out blazing in August and won their first four games. They followed that with three straight losses and that looked like curtains. Somewhere they found another gear and have now won six games in a row, including a sweep of Seattle in Seattle as they try to douse the Mariner postseason hopes. The Angels did this with a rotation in August so far of Parker Bridwell, Rickey Nolasco, JC Ramirez, Tyler Skaggs, and someone named Troy Scribner. I can safely say I had never heard of three of those pitchers on March 1st, 2017.

If you look at the Wild Card standings right now you will see the Angels now have the same record as NYY. If the season ended today, the NYY and Angels would be playing the play-in game.

They both have 61 wins.

Four teams have 59 wins, Seattle, Twins, KC, and Tampa Bay.  The Orioles have 58 wins.

Going to be a wild ride from here.

Go Angels