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.