Dog Days

The Other Day the LA Dodgers claimed both Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett of waivers from the Red Sox and Boston agreed to trade Gonzalez, Beckett and Crawford, who just had Tommy John, to LA.  With this trade the Red Sox have officially thrown in the towel, and now have a lot more salary space to maneuver as they unloaded over $200 Million in salary.  This move makes the dodgers contenders if not this year certainly next, Magic Johnson and their new owners are really pumping money into that franchise.
As we near the end of August, the Major League Baseball (MLB) playoff races are heating up.  In the American League, (AL) every division and the Wild Card are going to go down to the wire.  In the East the New York Yankees who have been in a bit of a tough stretch with 20 games in a row, lead both the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays by 4.5 and 4 games respectively.  CC Sabathia looked good in his DL comeback on friday and Andy Pettitte is scheduled for a September return, as they have an always explosive offense and looked primed to win the division.  Tampa and Baltimore won't go away, Tampa has great pitching and Baltimore just made another move to sure up there pitching.  In the Central the Chicago White Sox have a 2 game lead on the Detroit Tigers.  The Chicago White Sox looked good (when the Yankees were in Chicago) behind a good offense and the pitching of Chris Sale, Detroit has had an up and down season.  In the West the Los Angles Angles have made multiple moves to compete but those moves have not paid off, Albert Pujols is injured and Zach Grienke hasn't done well.  Texas has a lot of pitching and behind Josh Hamilton and look poised to win the West, currently a 6 game lead over the Oakland A's.  The Wild Card standings are interesting with Baltimore, Tampa and Oakland (a real surprise with a mix of kids and veterans) all tied, with a half game lead on Detroit.  To pick the playoffs in the AL I would go with the Yankees, White Sox and Rangers, for the Wild Cards Tampa and Oakland. (just have a feeling about the A's)
With the second Wild Card this season more emphasis is being put on winning your division because you want the off days before you start, you don't want to have to play in that one game playoff, where anything can happen.
In the National League (NL) Washington and Atlanta are fighting it out in the East, I like Washington but how far they go depends on how big a lead they have when they shut Strasberg down and where do they go without him.  In the Central it looks like the Cincinnati reds, who may become better when Joey Votto comes back.  The NL west has the best race with the Melky Cabrera less San Francisco Giants holding a 2 game lead on the improved LA Dodgers.  I am going to go ahead and say the Giants hold on.  In the Wild Card the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis cardinals hold a 1 and 2 game lead on the LA Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.  For the playoffs in the NL I'll go with Washington, Cincinatti and San Francisco, for the Wild Cards I'll go with St. Louis (after last year I believe) and the LA Dodgers.