Looking Ahead...  

Thursday night marked the start of the NFL preseason, as the schedule got underway with a small slate of games. Not only did these games signal the start of football season, but it also indicated that baseball will be soon coming to an end and that pennant races are will be heating up.

With a little over a month and a half left in the 2008 baseball season, teams are beginning to pencil themselves in as playoff contenders across Major League Baseball, as clubs have started to make the final push to the playoffs. Currently, the leaders in six division races, as well as both wildcard battles are leading by 2 1/2 games or less in their respective races. Below is a quick breakdown of the pursuit for the playoffs…

* Chicago White Sox (AL Central leader) ½ game lead on Minnesota
* Milwaukee (NL Wildcard leader) 1.0 game lead on St. Louis
* Philadelphia (NL East leader) 1.5 game lead on Florida
* Arizona (NL West leader) 1.5 game lead on Los Angeles
* Boston (AL Wildcard leader) 2.5 game lead on Minnesota
* Tampa Bay (AL East leader) 2.5 game lead on Boston

What's even more impressive is that if you add up the amount of games first place teams have in the above pennant races, you get 9.5 games. That is 2.5 games less than the Anaheim Angels current 12 game lead on the AL West.

Furthermore, if the MLB playoffs were to start today, we would have a healthy offering of divisional series matchups, as well as the potential for some marquee matchups leading up to the World Series…

(1) Los Angeles Angels vs. (4) Boston Red Sox
(2) Tampa Bay vs. (3) Chicago White Sox

(1) Chicago Cubs vs. (4) Arizona
(2) Philadelphia vs. (3) Milwaukee

So, if the playoffs really did start today we would have two first round rematches of last year’s divisional round, and the other two matchups would have three teams who have not won a playoff game in quite awhile (Yes, Philadelphia made the playoffs last year, but they did not win any games as they were swept by Colorado). Not to mention, we would also have the defending World Series champions back to defend their title (Boston), as well as a team who has not won the pennant in 100 years (Chicago Cubs) and has a serious goat they need to get off their back.

It should be an entertaining rest of the season as MLB is on pace to have one of its best finishes in recent years, as just about every playoff spot is on pace to be decided in the final week of the season. If this can be pulled off, this should result in not only some great revenue for teams competing in the playoff races, but also some great television ratings for the TV stations broadcasting these games. Most of all, these pennant races will setup a great anticipation for baseball fans as to what the 2008 MLB Playoffs will bring.