AL Playoff Picture as of August 30

Pardon the time between posts. Been tying up a few loose ends with another job. September is almost upon us and it's the month where playoff dreams are made and broken. The American League appears to be a bit less chaotic but I'll take a hack at picking who will be there in the end.

East

The Yankees and Rays are deadlocked once again with my Red Sox a solid 6.5 games back. It could've very easily been a three team race for two playoff spots but injuries pretty much ruined Boston's chances at postseason play. The Sox had their shot at catching both of their rivals and failed to do so, most recently by dropping 2 out of 3 in Tampa in a series that was winable. At one point, it looked like another surefire division title for the Yanks, but now the Rays have stated their case and it could come down to the final series of the season for both teams. Look for the Sox (or what's left of them) to play the spoiler in that final series in October.

Prediction: Rays

Central

The Twins have added some solid arms to their bullpen in acquiring lefties Brian Fuentes and Randy Flores after the non-waiver trade deadline. The only thing missing is a healthy Justin Morneau in their lineup and that may prevent them from getting past a first round opponent in October. The White Sox are on the verge of acquiring Manny Ramirez from the Dodgers, but at 4.5 games back it may be too little too late. There will be no one game playoff this year.

photo by Brian Peterson of the Associated Press

Prediction: Twins

West

Texas has pretty much run away with this division. They currently hold a 7.5 game lead on Oakland and have a deadly combination of hitting (Josh Hamilton, Vlad Guerrero and Michael Young) and pitching (Cliff Lee, Rich Harden and Neftali Feliz). I would expect them to rest a lot of their regulars down the stretch once the rosters expand tomorrow. Hopefully Ron Washington will know when to get his players back into game mode in time for the playoffs. I would some day like to see Houston added to this division so that the NL Central will no longer have six teams and the AL West would have five. Call me OCD if you like. I have nothing good to say about the rest of the AL West except that Dallas Braden threw a no-hitter and Ichiro is having one of his worst second halves ever (which isn't really a good thing for anybody, especially the Mariners).

Prediction: Rangers

Wild Card

As previously stated, the AL East and Wild Card are intertwined. At the current rate, the Rays and Yanks will most likely decide who wins what some time during the last week of the season. The Red Sox are 6.5 games back and that number will most likely continue to fluctuate but I see no feasible way that a team of rookies and backups can put together a run against two superior teams. Both Tampa and New York deserve to make the postseason up to this point and I think the Sox may spoil the Yanks' chances at their 17th division title.

Prediction: Yankees