In:
New York Mets and Yankees
Minnesota
Detroit
Oakland(just now)
So, the AL spots are all set, and the NL East is locked up. That leaves three spots, and five teams(LA Dodgers, San Diego, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Houston) fighting for them.
In a potentially historic turn of events, the Houston Astros have made up seven games in the NL Central division race in as many days. The St. Louis Cardinals are the Titanic, the Hindenburg, and Oliver Stone's Alexander all wrapped in one right now. They now have a slim game and a half lead on Houston, with another game against NL West leading San Diego, and a four game series against Milwaukee to close the season out(all at home). Houston arguably has the tougher road, facing Pittsburgh twice before finishing up with a foursome in Atlanta.
San Diego has a two game lead on the Dodgers for the NL West division title, which leaves LA with a one game lead on Philly for the wild card.
Minnesota and Detroit are both assured playoff spots, but are still competing for the division title, separated by just one game. Johan Santana won tonight to wrap up the MLB triple crown in pitching, as he leads both leagues in wins(19), ERA(2.77) and strikeouts(245). Only two other pitchers in the last 60 years have done that: Dwight Gooden and Sandy Koufax.
Perhaps even more interesting(...to me...) is that reports indicate that Santana will not pitch again in the regular season, meaning that this will be the first time in major league history, over 135 years, that there will have been no 20 game winner in a full, non-strike season.
