MLB

MLB Playoff Races in the NL/AL West: “From The Westside With Love”

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It’s been a while since I’ve published anything about the playoff races in the MLB. However, I’m back. I wanted to extend my knowledge to you all about the AL/NL West races because there has been a lot going on. 

 

Number One

Currently, the Houston Astros are number one in the AL West with an 85-48 record. They’ve been hot on the road and at home this season. Interestingly enough, I was asked on The Batter’s Box podcast with the “fellas” about my opinion of the Astros. It’s safe to say they have “done their time” and “paid for their mistakes.” But with a memory like mine, it’s very hard to not think about it. Fans often come to social media saying that all professional sports are “rigged” or “fixed,” but I can’t agree with that. 

 

Ethical Moment

As a sports administration doctoral student, I have closely followed and researched sport ethics. I wanted to provide an example for you all that would give you an idea of my “drift.” Totally different sport, but in the textbook “Sport Ethics: Concepts and Cases in Sport and Recreation” (by David Cruise Malloy), it talks about the firing of one of the “most winningest” coaches in NCAA football history. He was fired four days after winning the final game of his 1989 season, while the community petitioned in support of him. The athletic director made the final decision to have the coach fired and gave him an ultimatum…. “A 7-4 season or be fired.” Instead, he finished with a 6-5 record. 

 

The athletic director’s reason for firing the head coach was because he did not win enough; even though he had the best record in school history as a head coach. Does this really happen within baseball, even after the Astros have been punished and “served their sentence?” Another great ethical question that is asked in this textbook is “how ethical is it to base a personnel decision on the won-lost record?” It makes me wonder how the Astros were able to bounce back from that era and continue to strive toward greatness. I guess “all that slick hating turned into motivation.” (lyrics of west-coast rapper Dom Kennedy’s in the song “From The Westside With Love”).

 

As a general manager and/or coach, it is detrimental to have a great MLB roster AND bench. If teams become “stacked,” I think it is because that is where they are willing to play AND win. I do not have the first thought that someone is cheating, but if something is obvious (like umpires giving bad calls or a player taking PEDs), then something needs to be done (of course). 

 

AL West Race

The Seattle Mariners are 10 games back, followed by the Texas Rangers trailing the Astros by 26.5 games. There’s such a large gap in this division that it’s pretty obvious who’s going to make the cut for the playoffs. They are on a five-game winning streak right now. With an even larger gap, the Oakland A’s are 49-85 and 36.5 games back from first place. Ouch. 

 

NL West Race

My late grandfather’s L.A. Dodgers are in first place in the NL West with a 91-41 record. Once again, there is such a large gap between them and the other four MLB teams of the division: San Diego Padres (18 GB), San Francisco Giants (27.5 GB), Arizona Diamondbacks (28 GB), and the Colorado Rockies (35.5 GB). It sure is different not seeing Tatis Jr. out there. I’m almost 100 percent positive that his absence has had an effect on the team. 

 

Conclusion

I’ve just started getting back in the swing of covering the MLB, and things are pretty interesting for us all. Will the teams that are behind “bridge these gaps” or will the number one clubhouses continue to dominate?

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