A week ago, several races in MLB were too close to call. Like political coverage, this news station reserved calling the "election" until all the precincts were closed. A week later, several of those races are all but decided and only two real races remain: The NL Wildcard and the NL Central Division. And the Cubs are in the thick of both of those races.

Remember Spahn and Sain and then pray for rain? With the Cubs it's: "Wood and Prior and then pray with the friar." When Prior and Wood pitch, there is a good chance the Cubs will do something positive in the race. When Zambrano pitches, there are good times and bad. When Clement pitches, there are too many bad for what is a great talent and arm.

But even with this mixture, the Cubs have inched closer to the leaders in both the wildcard and division. As the Phillies and Marlins spin around and lose big games, the Cubs have climbed up to a game within the Astros (who will not give in and win and win) and a game and a half behind in the wildcard.

The other races are all but over. The White Sox stunning and sudden collapse along with the Twins inspired play has insured the Twins a division title and will be a scary team for any playoff contender to play. The White Sox collapse has been so sudden that it is morbid. The game is over for them this season.

With six games to play, the valiant but out powered Mariners will not overtake the Red Sox as the wildcard team. Between Joel Pineiro's sudden struggles and Ichiro down to mortal earth, the Mariners will be out of the playoffs as the wildcard is out of reach and so is the division.

The Yankees kept it close for a while, but now will not let Boston even come close. I have to find the schedule for the playoffs depending on who the final teams are. The only known is that the Yankees can't play the Red Sox in the opening round of the playoffs. Who they play will depend on some final tie breaker type things.


And finally, three of MLB's best pitchers were on the mound tonight. Greg Maddux pitched only five innings, giving up only one hit, but that five inning stint earned him his fifteenth win. That is sixteen consecutive seasons that Maddux has done that, passing a record long held by Cy Young.

Pedro Martinez handcuffed the Indians for seven innings in a clutch performance that all but buries the Mariners. Martinez is now 14-4 for the year and has looked very strong in his last two outings and is setting up nicely for the playoff run.

And once again, hat's off Roger Clemens as he won his 309th game. Can he get to 310? Time will tell.