NL races just about settled

With only a few weeks remaining in the regular season, it appears that three of the four NL playoffs teams from last year will have a return engagement this October. The St. Louis Cardinals, the Atlanta Braves and the Arizona Diamondbacks are sure bets to qualify for postseason play, while the San Francisco Giants and the L.A. Dodgers continue to duke it out for the wild card.

In the NL East, the Braves have already clinched a postseason berth, and in the NL Central, the St. Louis Cardinals have built a six and a half game lead over the second place Houston Astros. The cards appear set to clinch the division sometime in the very near future. Houston refuses to go down without a fight, however, as demonstrated on Sunday when Wade Miller pitched a complete game three-hitter for his first career shutout. Despite the moral victory, the Astros still face an uphill battle as they need have only 12 games remaining to make up their six and a half game divisional deficit and a five and a half game deficit in the wild card standings (through Monday afternoon). Though the Astros have played like a playoff contender of late, they dug themselves a deep hole with their dismal play earlier in the season.

In the NL West there is not much a race for the divisional title as the Diamondbacks have just about wrapped it up. But, it is interesting to note that there is an internal battle going on between two Arizona players _ Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling _ for the Cy Young. The pair is a combined 45-10 with a 2.62 ERA and 617 strikeouts in 2002. Schilling just missed picking up his 24th win of the season on Sunday versus the Milwaukee Brewers after Diamondbacks' closer Byung-Hyun Kim blew the save in the ninth inning. Arizona hung on to win 6-5 in the bottom of the 13th on a Tony Womack single that scored Felix Jose. Though Schilling wasn't able to notch the win, he did record his 300th strikeout of the season and joined Johnson in the 300 club. Schilling and Johnson, who notched 17 strikeouts in a 5-0 complete game three-hitter on Saturday, became the first teammates in Major League history to record 300 strikeouts in the same season.

Outside of the Cy Young award, the only thing up for grabs in the NL is the wild card (Barry Bonds is the NL MVP). The two contenders are the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers, who have perhaps the best rivalry in all of baseball, one that began when the Giants played in Manhattan and the Dodgers in Brooklyn. As of Monday afternoon, the Giants held a one game lead in the wild card standings and the pair began a crucial four-game series in LA last night.

The Dodgers, who had played consistently well for most of the season, are coming off a four games series against Colorado during which they won only one game. Including the Colorado series, the Dodgers have lost seven of their last ten. Luckily for LA, following the series with the Giants, it will finish the season with nine games against losing teams (San Diego and Colorado).

San Francisco, on the other hand, has won seven of its last ten, and will be looking to finish strong in its last eight games against Milwaukee, San Diego and Houston. The key to the Giants' success will be whether the people hitting behind Barry Bonds and his lofty .578 on-base percentage (courtesy of his 176 walks) can drive him home