With the playoffs settled, the battingraces take center stage today. In the AL, three players are separated by two points. Bill Meuller stands at .327, Derek Jeter at .326 and Manny Ramirez at .325. I’m in southern CT right now, and it’s raining hard and it looks like it will rain all day, so I don’t know if the Yankees will play. If that game is called early, I expect Mueller to sit out. If not, I would expect what happened yesterday, where if Mueller gets a hit, he’ll come out of the game. Of course, I expect Manny to try to push him as well, so it should be interesting.
In the NL, Todd Helton and Albert Pujols are tied at .358 for the NL lead. St. Louis is in Arizona and Colorado is in San Diego. Helton has a bit of an advantage as he’s facing Jake Peavy, while Pujols faces rookie sensation Brandon Webb. Pujols has never faced Webb, while Helton is 3 for 10 off Peavy.
Another thing to watch is Barry Bonds. He’s two HR shy of tying Willie Mays for 3rd on the all-time HR list. I don’t know if Bonds will play today, but it would be like him to hit those two today. He’ll be opposed by Wilson Alvarez, who Bonds has never faced.
Albert Pujols leads the majors with 50 doubles, but there are five other players at 49. If all five should get a double today, it would be the first season with six 50-double players since there were 7 in 1936.
As of this morning, the league HR leaders each have 47 (Thome and Rodriquez) and the league RBI leaders each have 141 (Delgado and Wilson). I’ll leave it to the crack research teams at ESPN and Fox to figure out when the last time the league leaders had the same HR and RBI totals.
And last but not least (actually, I guess they are least), the Detroit Tigers try to finish on a positive note by not tying the 1962 Mets. The Tigers won yesterday, 9-8 for their 42nd win. They’ll have a better winning percetage, but could equal the 1962 Mets losses. They send 21-game loser Mike Maroth to the mound; he has an 8.54 ERA over his last five starts.
It’s the last day of what’s been a real good season. I hope your favorite team wins! On to the playoffs!