IndianaTwin

Yay, Osuna, Reynolds, and Moran. Pirates 8-0.

For doing Frank Sinatra, sure, but not baseball. I hope he doesn't say stupid stuff like "A sonata by Sinatra." Or "Hey, you guys. It's Old Blue Eyes."

While I'm cautious by nature, I greatly appreciate when the Twins engage in RISPy behavior.

Ahhh-rise!! (Take that, John Sterling.)

Yay, Kris Bryant!

"Oo-henny-way Sore-ezz" That might be Gladden's worst pronunciation of the year, and he's had some doozies.

Similarly, with Oakland's loss in Game 1, no seeding orders have changed, though things tighten a bit. The Twins and A's are each at 35-23, though Oakland has the tiebreaker advantage. Interestingly, if the A's and White Sox tie at 36 wins, the A's have the tiebreaker advantage by virtue of their intradivisional record, but if they tie at 35 games, the White Sox have the tiebreaker because each will have 25 divisional wins, but the White Sox will have a better record in the last 20. Oakland has the tiebreaker advantage on Cleveland.

With the Yankees win over Florida, nothing is finalized, though things tighten a bit for other teams. Toronto now needs to win both its games and hope for a Yankee loss tomorrow to climb into the No. 5 seed.Nor have the Yankees caught Chicago or Cleveland to reach the No. 4 seed, but those teams' margin for error is a little less. A win by either tonight will lock the Central runner-up into the 4 seed and the East runner-up into the 5, however.

Maeda is a great example of what I'm talking about. Folks were clamoring for the sexy Wheeler/Ryu/Bumgarner signing, but they bided their time and pulled off a trade that many people didn't think was that big deal at a time. (Remember all the "we didn't get 'impact pitching'" posts last winter?) Another example of the little moves involving a big-time player was saying, "Hey, Nelson, if we give you an extra million as a buyout, could we tack on a second year as an option." Your .600 batting average comment (or maybe "winning percentage") captures it well. If their winning percentage is .600 and everyone else's averages .500, but they make enough moves, they're eventually going to separate themselves from the pack. That seems to be the approach.

Yeah, I also caught that I missed that the Twins can get the No. 7 seed if they win 35 games and Cleveland wins twice and Chicago wins one, but I couldn't go back and edit. Also, in Yankees end with 33 wins, it should be "No. 5 seed if TORONTO loses..." [And thank goodness I don't care about the NL, since there are still 11 teams in play. It does look like No. 1 (LA), 2 (Atl), and 4 (SD) are set, with the Cubs' magic number at 1 against St. Louis for the No. 3 seed.]

Well, since I started this, I might as well continue. Here's the update after Friday's games: TAMPA BAY (38-20) • Ends with 38, 39 or 40 wins: o No. 1 seed. OAKLAND (35-22; 3 games remaining) • Ends with 35 wins: o No. 2 seed if Minnesota loses twice, Chicago loses twice, and Cleveland loses once. o No. 3 seed if Minnesota wins one or Chicago wins one or Cleveland loses twice. • Ends with 36 wins: o No. 2 seed if Minnesota loses at least once and Chicago loses at least once. o No. 3 seed if Minnesota wins two or Chicago wins two. • Ends with 37 wins: o No. 2 seed. MINNESOTA (35-23) • Ends with 35 wins: o No. 3 seed if Chicago loses two, and Cleveland loses at least one; also if Chicago and Cleveland each win one. o No. 4 seed if Chicago wins one or Cleveland wins two • Ends with 36 wins: o No. 2 seed if Oakland loses three and Chicago loses one. o No. 3 seed if Oakland wins one and Chicago loses two. o No. 4 seed if Chicago wins two and Cleveland loses one OR if Cleveland wins two and Chicago loses two. o No. 7 seed if Chicago wins two and Cleveland wins two OR Cleveland wins two and Chicago loses one. • Ends with 37 wins: o No. 2 seed if Oakland loses at least once. o No. 3 seed if Oakland wins three. CLEVELAND (34-24) • Ends with 34 wins: o No. 4 seed if Chicago loses twice and New York loses at least one. o No. 5 seed if Chicago loses twice and New York wins twice. o No. 7 seed if Chicago wins at least one. • Ends with 35 wins: o No. 4 seed if Chicago loses at least one. o No. 7 if Chicago wins twice. • Ends with 36 wins: o No. 2 seed if Minnesota loses twice, Chicago loses at least once, and Oakland loses three. o No. 3 seed if Minnesota loses twice, Chicago loses at least once, and Oakland wins at least once. o No. 4 seed if Minnesota wins once. NEW YORK (32-26) • Ends with 32 wins o No. 5 seed if Toronto loses once or twice o No. 8 seed if Toronto wins twice. • Ends with 33 wins: o No. 5 seed if loses once or twice o No. 8 seed if Toronto wins twice. • Ends with 34 wins: o No. 4 seed if Cleveland loses twice and Chicago loses twice. o No. 5 seed if Cleveland wins once or Chicago wins once. HOUSTON (29-29) • Ends with 29, 30, or 31 wins: o No. 6 seed. CHICAGO (34-24) • Ends with 34 wins: o No. 7 seed. • Ends with 35 wins: o No. 2 seed if Oakland loses twice, Minnesota loses twice and Cleveland loses twice. o No. 3 seed if Oakland wins at least once, Minnesota loses twice and Cleveland loses twice. o No. 4 seed if Minnesota wins once OR Cleveland wins once and Minnesota loses twice. o No. 7 seed if Minnesota wins once and Cleveland wins once. • Ends with 36 wins: o No. 2 seed if Oakland loses once, Minnesota loses once and Cleveland loses once. o No. 3 seed if Oakland loses twice, Minnesota loses once and Cleveland loses once. o No. 4 seed if Minnesota wins twice or Cleveland wins twice. o No. 7 seed if Minnesota wins at least once and Cleveland wins twice. TORONTO (31-27) • Ends with 31 or 32 wins: o No. 8 seed. • Ends with 33 wins: o No. 5 seed if New York loses twice. o No. 8 seed if New York wins once. LOS ANGELES (26-32) • Ends with 26, 27, or 28 wins o Eliminated.

It's still possible for the Twins to host Toronto in the 4-5 series. Toronto is one back of New York with two to play.

Not today. They just went from 4 to 7 today.

It did seem odd to let him go. But if you look at their current roster, what pitcher would you take off, given that Odo or Dobnak will likely be activated in Colina's spot for the wild card round and someone else will need to be taken off for the one of those in the next round?

That's a separate issue, and I don't disagree that it seems odd to have brought him up in the first place. My point is, since they DID bring him up and they want to see him get an inning, how confident are you that there will be a better time than down two with only three outs left on offense? And who would you have rather shot for tomorrow's game?

So hindsight's 20-20, but if you want to get Colina in over the weekend, are you confident there's going to be a better opportunity Saturday or Sunday? Would you rather bring him in up two? What's the odds you'll be up five and feel better about it? You hope you're not down two or more on Saturday or Sunday.

Yes, by virtue of a 7-3 advantage in the regular season.

Why does a chicken coop have two doors? Because if it had four, it would be a chicken sedan.

Uh, what's yellow and goes slam-slam-slam-slam? A four-door banana.

The guy on YouTube just called the runner on second "Air Andrianza." Who does he think he is with that pronunciation, Dan Gladden?

As the (former) owner of Michael Lorenzen in the Northern Indiana Rotisserie League, I am pleased to see Michael Lorenzen enter the game.

Ay Ray

Donaldson: "Right calf cramp."

I didn't have the time either.

What I'm impressed by is that the strategy seems to generally eschew the blockbuster move that tries to move the needle in a big way (but often hampers the team if it doesn't) in favor of making multiple moves that nudge the needle each time and don't back themselves into a corner.