Wild Card and Central Division Races Heat Up

Though the San Francisco Giants and the Atlanta Braves already clinched their respective divisions, many hotly contested pennant races mean lots of action remains. With Oct. 1 right around the corner, seven teams are still vying for two playoff spots for the National League Central Division and wild card spots.

Entering Sunday morning, the Philadelphia Phillies lead the long list of wild card hopefuls with the Florida Marlins, LA Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, and the Montreal Expos all within 7 games of the leader. All of the NL East and West teams have their eyes securely fixed on the wild card, but all three NL Central teams in the wild card race are also within reach of the Central title.

Although the Phillies remain atop the wildcard standings, there is turmoil in the city of brotherly love. Manager Larry Bowa is on the verge of being fired after every game. Pat Burrell, a player hailed as the city's next Mike Schmidt, is in the midst of an awful offensive season. And closer Jose Mesa seems like he is Byung-Hyun Kim pitching against the Yankees every night.

In fact, Mesa has lost his closing duties to "All-Star" Mike Williams, who was acquired via a midseason trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Williams should provide some stability at the back of the bullpen with Mesa becoming an Armando Benitez-like set-up man.

The NL Central is still a three-team race with Houston at the top of the pile at the start of Sunday, one game ahead of the Cubs and two games ahead of the ailing Cardinals. St. Louis and Chicago wrapped up a four-day, five game series this week that was full of enough action for an entire season.

The Cubs took four of five from the Cards, but suffered a string of ejections and suspensions in the process. Both outfielder Moises Alou and reliever Antonio Alfonseca were thrown out of the September 2nd game, and Sammy Sosa and pitching coach Larry Rothchild were ejected from the Sept. 4 game.

Alfonseca has since been suspended for assaulting the third base umpire with his massive stomach. In the fourth game of the series, managers Tony LaRussa and Dusty Baker were each seen screaming at each other across the field after the Cardinals retaliated by planking a Cubs pitcher at bat.

While the Cardinals have one of the best offenses in the national league -- highlighted by the trio of Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen -- their pitching has been shaky. Ace Matt Morris having been on the DL for a large part of the season. Now that Morris is back and the Cards have traded for the New York Yankees' former six million dollar pitcher Sterling Hitchcock, they might have just enough in the tank to win the division.

Not to be outdone, Astros' ace Roy Oswalt is returning Monday from two extended stints on the DL. He should give the team two or three all-star starts in its playoff push. Despite the return of Oswalt, the Astros have by far the toughest remaining schedule of the three Central division teams. They face six games against the Cards, three against the already playoff-bound San Francisco Giants, and three against the spoiler Colorado Rockies.

Pitching reigns supreme in the playoff hopes of these three teams and with the duo of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood and the emergence of Carlos Zambrano over the last two months, the Cubs seem to be the frontrunner to win the division. After a four game series in Puerto Rico against the Expos, the Cubs have their remaining 16 games against the cellar-dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, and New York Mets. Look for the Cubs to use this easy schedule to springboard into the playoffs atop the Central division.

On a lighter note, former Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman and right fielder Randall Simon was fined $432 in the case of the "sausage race beating." Simon jokingly hit a teenage girl dressed up as a sausage in the daily race featuring a Polish sausage, an Italian sausage, a hotdog and a bratwurst. The girl was not hurt despite a few minor scrapes and Simon, now with the Cubs, apologized for the incident.