West races becoming Bats vs. Arms
As the regular season comes into the final stages an interesting dynamic is establishing itself. While the big teams in the east sort out who will be division winner and who will take the wildcard, the races in the west have become too close for comfort for the defending pennant winners Texas and San Francisco.
So who’s playing spoiler? In the National League Arizona are now half a game ahead of the Giants in the NL West and being lead by MVP candidate Justin Upton. While the LA Angels, with their 1-2 punch of Jared Weaver and Dan Haren, are just 1.5 back of Texas in the AL West.
San Fran’s starting rotation and bullpen are perhaps the best in the league, but their offense is just dreadful. The lack of run support (407 runs scored, only Seattle have scored less) is threatening to keep the defending champions out of the post-season. Which would be a shame given the rivalry that is now building between them and Philadelphia.
Arizona, conversely, have been racking up the runs thanks to the explosive Justin Upton and his supporting cast. Upton leads the D-Backs in Slugging, On Base, Homers and Stolen Bases. An MVP if ever there was one. They would be an exciting prospect in the play-offs, but it might just be coming a year or two too soon for them.
Texas meanwhile have the big bats of Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz that scare the life out of Red Sox and Yankees fans, who lack the leftie reliever that can handle such a powerful duo in the middle of the order. But despite the big line-up and the bullpen additions of Mike Adams and Koji Uehara at the deadline, the Angels of Anaheim are just 1.5 games back. Weaver and Haren, along with a rejuvenated Ervin Santana and rookie closer Jordan Walden, have pitched so well that the Angels have given up the fewest runs in the American League by a long way. They are a huge threat to prevent the Rangers from getting into the post-season.
The Bats vs. Arms conflict is also one that could be seen in the World Series. The American league has the 3 best offenses in Boston, New York and Texas while the National League boasts the 3 stingiest teams in the Majors with Philadelphia, Atlanta and San Francisco leading in runs allowed.
The potential clash of such altering styles of winning is one that has analysts all over salivating about this post-season.
Personally my money’s on the Phillies to come out on top. They should have home advantage through-out the play-offs and the addition of Hunter Pence has given their line up a bit more bite. They have a combination of pitching and hitting that I think the AL giants will have a tough time getting to grips with.
Follow Toby Durant on twitter @TDonSport
