The Detroit Tigers keep their one game lead in the AL Central over the Minnesota Twins by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Tuesday. They game up a couple late inning runs, but managed to hold off the Blue Jays rally. There are just 5 games left for the Tigers. While they are already guaranteed at least the Wild Card, they really want the division title. If they don’t get it, they will have suffered a collapse of sorts.

The Minnesota Twins surprised many this season with their late run to the MLB playoffs. Many had written them off, but here we are in September and here they are. Santana took the mound for the Twins yesterday and he opened as a $4 favorite in Vegas. That’s unheard of. The Twins had a tough time with the Royals and needed a late inning run to seal the deal.

It’s official. The LA Angels season is over. They gave it a good run, but fell short in the end. Once again the Oakland A’s heated up after the All Star break and it was too much for the Angels. The Angels are 85-72 on the season and watched their season slip away as they lost 5-2 to Texas on Tuesday. The season for the Rangers (79-79) has really been over for some time, but they can take comfort in knowing that they destroyed the hopes of a division foe.

Thanks to their 12-3 win over Seattle and LA Angels 5-2 loss against Texas on Tuesday, the Oakland A’s have won the AL West division. They are going back to the playoffs. In reality, they have been expected to clinch for about a week or so, but the Angels kept winning and hanging around. It’s official now. The Angels season is over and the A’s are in the show.

The Philadelphia Phillies can’t afford a loss at this point. They are in a heated battle with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL Wild Card. The Phillies are playing the 70-87 Washington Nationals—a beatable team. These are games they are supposed to win. On Tuesday the Phillies just didn’t have the means to stage a comeback. Despite scoring a run in the 9th inning, the Phillies fell short and lost to the Nationals 4-3.

The Houston Astros defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-4 last night. They picked up another game in their division race thanks to St. Louis losing 7-5 to the Padres. That makes 7 games the Astros have made up in as many games. They are on the verge of completing a great comeback. The Astros are 1.5 games out in the NL Central with just a handful of games left.

We could be watching one of the greatest collapses in the history of MLB baseball. Just one week ago the St. Louis Cardinals had a comfortable 8.5 game lead with about 14 games left to play. What could go wrong? Well, since that time, the Cardinals have lost 7 straight games. The latest was last night when they lost at home to the San Diego Padres 7-5.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in a battle for the playoffs. First, they are fighting the hot San Diego Padres for the Division. If that fails, they are in a prime position in the NL Wild Card. The Phillies are right there with them. The season is winding down and each game has become a must win affair.

Although that confidences were running high for Chicago at the start of the first inning in Thursdays Cleveland game just after making a good showing in Boston, Mark Buehrle their starting pitcher didn’t quite make it.

The Arizona Diamondbacks helped themselves and hurt the Florida Marlins today. Despite having Dontrelle Willis on the mound, the Florida Marlins couldn’t get it together. Their bats fell quite all game as they tapped out 4 hits. The Diamondbacks doubled up their hit count and pushed across 4 runs to beat the Marlins 4-0.

The pitching tandem of Suppan, Wainwright and Isringhausen shut down the Washington Nationals on Tuesday. The three-pitcher combo allowed just 5 hits and 4 walks over 9 innings of work. The Cardinals got runs in the 1st and 7th innings to beat the Nationals 2-0 and maintain their course towards the 2006 playoffs.

The Boston Red Sox sneaked past the Chicago White Sox today to keep alive in the playoff hunt. The lone score came in the 4th inning. The White Sox could only muster 4 hits all afternoon. The Red Sox only got 3 hits, but they got a run across and that proved to be the difference. The Red Sox beat the White Sox 1-0.

The Florida Marlins have become the talk of the town of late. On shows such as “Around the Horn” on ESPN, they have talked about the Marlins as the eventual NL Wild Card. They are three back now with a few teams ahead of them. The recent stint against St. Louis proved to be a losing one. Still, they are right there in the hunt. The Brewers are 6.5 games out in the NL Wild Card and almost left for dead. It’s not just the games behind, but the fact that there are 9 teams ahead of them. That’s close to insurmountable no matter how many games out you are.

The Cincinnati Red s and San Diego Padres open a three game series today in San Diego. The Reds are trailing the NL Central by 5 games and they are 1.5 games behind in the NL Wild Card. Meanwhile, the Padres are just 3 back of the Dodgers in the NL West and they currently lead the Phillies by a game in the NL Wild Card. The Padres have won their last two games and 7 of their last 10 overall. The Reds have fallen from grace. They are losers of 6 straight and 7 of their last 10.

It’s almost over—the season that is. The Toronto Blue Jays are technically in it since they are 10.5 games back in the AL Wild Card, but their season is really over. There’s only a few weeks of baseball left—in the regular season—and they have many teams to climb over. How about the Red Sox? They have crashed. It’s going to take a monumental effort to make the playoffs. First, they need to stop losing games. Second, they need to start winning against good teams. Finally, they need the teams ahead of them—Yankees or Chiacgo White Sox and Minnesota—to start losing.

The White Sox are in a fierce battle with the Minnesota Twins for the AL Wild Card. There’s also Boston, LA Angels and Toronto, but they are further down and time is running out. Today, the White Sox seemingly get a break as they face the worst team in the league—Kansas City. They Royals are a paltry 49-86. However, they have managed to upset some teams—like Boston and Oakland—along the way. It’s almost win or go home time.

The Oakland A’s are running away with the AL West. They have won 8 of their last 10 including three in a row. Meanwhile the trailing Angels and Rangers have sputtered. The Angels are 7.5 games back and the Rangers 9 games back. With just about 29 games left, the A’s can all but wrap up the AL West with a decent series against Baltimore—especially if the other two teams falter.