By Mitch Chortkoff
Sports Editor
When major league baseball added a second wild card team to this season’s playoffs I wasn’t sure this was a good idea.
But I was wrong.
With more teams in contention it’s been a bonanza for fans. Almost every division has interesting races.
The one that intrigues me the most is the American League Central, where heavily favored Detroit has been receiving a major challenge from Kansas City.
The Royals thought they were pretty good a couple of years ago but they were a bit young to reach the top. More experienced now, they shockingly passed the Tigers for first place in the middle of August
And how about the Cardinals falling to third place and forced to chase both Milwaukee and Pittsburgh? The Cardinals were in the World Series last season but it’s not certain they’ll make this season’s playoffs.
In the American League East Baltimore has been the best team most of the way. The Yankees, plagued by injuries and short of quality pitching, began a gallant run after adding several key players in mid-season. Joe Girardi is one of baseball’s best managers and merely plugged new players into his lineup.
Locally there’s plenty of interest in the Dodgers, who brought in Ramon Hernandez and Kevin Correia in August to bolster the pitching and both started out well.
The Dodgers then began pulling away fom the Giants.
The Dodgers considered trading Matt Kemp but wisely changed their mind. He has since become one of the hottest hitters in baseball.
The presence of so many teams in wild card contention complicated trade activity at the deadline. Teams that would have traded some high-priced players in past years now considered themselves contenders.
Whoever makes the post season will have earned their place.
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