Baseball saves its best for last
Posted: Monday September 21, 1998 04:22 PM
ST. LOUIS (CNN/SI) -- These are some of the best times in baseball -- the
final days of the regular season.
This is when things are decided for the postseason. This is when players
make their final push toward yearlong goals. This is the bottom of the
ninth, bases loaded, your team down by a couple runs and you up at the
plate.
All of the pennant races but one have been decided, but the wild cards are
still out there to be had. It may not be for first place, but for people in
places like Boston and Texas and Anaheim and Chicago and New York, it's
something.
And there is one huge individual race still undecided.
It's a great time of year.
The home run race -- Sosa vs. McGwire: It has been the talk of the
season. Mark
McGwire's two-up now, and his St. Louis Cardinals
have all six of their final games at home. Sammy Sosa has
all five of his remaining games on the road, and he's not swinging the bat
particularly well right now, either. The Great Home Run race is certainly
McGwire's to lose.
Still, you have to think that Sosa has a couple more left in him. My guess
would be that they'd both end up around 67 somewhere. But wouldn't it be
great if they ended up tied?
The National League MVP -- Sosa vs. McGwire: I said in a recent
mailbag that Moises Alou of
Houston would get my vote, but if I had to pick either of the home run
kings for MVP, I'd go with Sosa, who has meant much more to the Chicago Cubs than McGwire
has to the Cardinals.
My definition of an MVP is someone who means so much to his team that, if
you take that person away, the team wouldn't be nearly as good. The
Cardinals are close to 20 games behind the Houston Astros, even
with McGwire. If you take Sammy away from the Cubs -- who are 12 games back
of Houston but are in the thick of the wild card race -- it would hurt the
Cubs a lot more than if McGwire was taken away from the Cardinals.
You get the argument that McGwire has brought baseball back to the people.
Sammy has been as much a part of the excitement as anybody this year. Plus,
the MVP is not about bringing people back. It's about helping your team
win.
The NL Wild Card race: Right now, the New York Mets are on a
run. They're playing good enough to get to John Franco late
in the ballgame, John Olerud's
swinging the bat really well. Their biggest problem lies in the final three
games of the season. The Mets finish up their charge toward the wild card
with a three-game set against the Atlanta Braves -- in
Atlanta. The Cubs have been struggling some, and all five of their final
games are on the road -- including a final three-game set in Houston
against the Astros.
This could end up in a playoff.
The AL Wild Card/AL West race: The Texas Rangers and Anaheim Angels still
can make the AL Wild Card race interesting, especially if the Boston Red Sox -- who
lead the Wild Card by 3 1/2 games -- keep slipping.
If the Red Sox can turn it around, or just hold on, the only way the
Rangers and Angels will make the postseason is by winning the AL West. And
that's how it should be.
Tonight, the two teams square off in the start of a three-game series in
Texas.
What more can you want?
The 6-4-3 with Ozzie: Hooray for The Streak, and hooray for Cal Ripken Jr.
I said earlier this year that, when the streak comes to an end, it would
have to be Cal's decision -- and no one else's. When you become a prisoner
of something like that, it's hard to just get up and walk away from it.
But Ripken did, on his terms, picking the perfect time: The last home game
for his Baltimore
Orioles.
It's a streak that will be remembered forever: 2,632 games. I don't know if
it will ever even be approached again. Ozzie Smith, a 15-time
All-Star, is a baseball analyst for CNN/SI, the 24-hour sports news network
from CNN and Sports Illustrated. His column appears ever Monday exclusively
on CNNSI.com.
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