Scoreboard Watching - 9/24/2012

Baltimore Orioles -- It was a good week for the Orioles. Unfortunately, it was also a good week for the Yankees. As such, they still remain one game behind the Yankees for the A.L. East, but they did pick up considerable ground in the Wild Card race, going from two games behind the Oakland Athletics to one game ahead and in sole possession of the first WC slot.

The Orioles started their week in Seattle where they swept the Mariners, then they headed to Boston where they took two out of three from the Red Sox. They went into the finale game of the series looking for the sweep, but it wasn't meant to be.

The O's are back home this week for four games against the the Toronto Blue Jays, starting with a double header this afternoon, then three more games against the Red Sox. The Orioles can't afford to lose many more games, so it's nice that they'll get to play two bad teams.

New York Yankees -- Those damn Yankees just couldn't lose this week. While the Orioles were sweeping the Mariners, they were sweeping the Blue Jays. They then took two out of three from the A's, giving them an identical 5-1 record to the Orioles this week. This week the Yankees go on the road for three games against the Twins and four against the Blue Jays. Hopefully one of those teams will take their role of spoiler seriously.

Tampa Bay Rays -- I'm only including the Rays still as the Orioles will play them the last three games of the season. Right now they are 4.5 games behind the Orioles in the ALE and 3.5 behind the second wild card team. So if they have a good week and go into the final series down by two or three, they'll still be a threat.

The Rays lost the first two games they played this week, but came back to win the final five. They're off tonight but will play two against the Red Sox and four against the White Sox starting on Tuesday.

Oakland Athletics -- The A's took a turn for the south this week. After beating up on the Orioles last weekend, they lost two out of three from both the Tigers and the Yankees. The losses dropped them out of the top spot in the WC and puts them four game behind the Texas Rangers in the A.L. West. They start a four-game series with the Rangers tonight on the road followed by three games at home vs. the Mariners.

Los Angeles Angels -- The Angels started the week poorly, losing two of three against the Rangers. But they followed that with a sweep of the White Sox to keep themselves 2.5 games back in the wild card race. This week they get the Mariners for three and the Rangers for three.

Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers -- I said I wasn't going to mention these guys again, and it's true that they don't pose a threat to the Orioles' playoff hopes. But should the O's lock up the East, they'll play one of these two teams. I would like it to be the White Sox, not that they're helping themselves at all. They went just 2-5 this week while the Tigers went 3-4. Neither team was great, but the Tigers did pull to within one game of the White Sox.

This week the White Sox get the Indians and Rays, while the Tigers get the Royals and Twins.