The second place Orioles are off on Monday night. Their margin behind the division-leading Yankees and ahead of the third place Blue Jays is a half a game in either direction. They will remain that at the end of the night as those teams are off as well. So is two-thirds of the league. There's only five games. That is really weird.
Down on the farm, there is a little bit of baseball action as well. The Tides and the Keys are off, but Bowie is playing at 6:35, with 40-man starter Tim Berry on the mound. Delmarva is on the road with a 7:05 start time. The Shorebirds starter is the moderately intriguing (for a 22-year-old college draftee in Low-A) Steven Brault.
The rest of the major league action tonight:
Reds (19-23) @ Nationals (23-20), 7:05
Probable pitchers: Mike Leake (CIN), Stephen Strasburg (WAS)
Since the Orioles are off tonight, I will not begrudge Walgreens its presence on the main MASN channel tonight, largely because I won't be bothering to turn on that National League nonsense unless Leake is throwing a no-hitter.
Tigers (27-12) @ Indians (19-25), 7:05
Probable pitchers: Drew Smyly (DET), Corey Kluber (CLE)
The Tigers are beating the heck out of everybody. If it wasn't for the Orioles dismal record against Central division opponents, I would include some snarky comment about their division, but the Orioles have generally stunk against those guys so far, with a 5-11 record.
Brewers (27-17) @ Braves (23-19), 7:10
Probable pitchers: Wily Peralta (MIL), Mike Minor (ATL)
White Sox (21-24) @ Royals (22-21), 8:10
Probable pitchers: Scott Carroll (CHI), Jason Vargas (KC)
Astros (16-28) @ Angels (24-19), 10:05
Probable pitchers: Dallas Keuchel (HOU), Garrett Richards (LA)
As I have both of these starting pitchers on my fantasy team, I will be rooting for a low-scoring, high-strikeout affair, and expecting the most ludicrous slugfest the league has seen so far all season.
Both the NBA and NHL have made their way into the conference finals part of their playoffs, and one series each is in action on Monday night. The New York Hockey Rangers take a 1-0 series lead into Game 2 at the Montreal Canadiens, and in basketball, a series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs tips off at 9 o'clock in San Antonio. I like Kevin Durant.