Baseball Kayfabe and Political Rankings

Don't usually do baseball, but I figure I'll do it here.

We've got one game left (Phillies at Mets) tonight, and two weeks to go...

AL:

East:  Tampa is 6.5 up on Boston, 12 to play.  Division magic number is 6.  7.5 up on Toronto, 9 up on the Yankees.  Playoff magic number for Tampa is 4.

Central:  White Sox are 11 up on Cleveland, 13 to play.  Magic number is 3.  White Sox are the only team in the division above .500.  Tragic Number for Cleveland is 5.

West:  Houston, 6 clear of Oakland, 15 to play.  Magic number for the division is 8.  8 up on Seattle.  Tragic Numbers:  Oakland:  8.  Seattle:  6.

Eliminated:  Baltimore, Minnesota, Detroit, Kansas City, Texas, LA Angels.

Wild Card:  Boston 1 up on Toronto, 2.5 on the Yankees, 3 on Oakland, 5 on Seattle.

#1 Seed:  Tampa, 3 1/2 over Houston, 6 1/2 over the White Sox.

Currently:  Toronto at Boston for the 1-gamer.

That winner vs. Tampa with Tampa with the home field for the Bo5.

White Sox vs. Houston with Houston with the advantage for the Bo5.

NL:

East:  Cobb County, 1.5 up currently on Philly and 6 on the Mets, pending tonight's result between the latter two.

Central:  Milwaukee has just become the third NL team to clinch playoffs, they're 11 1/2 up on the Cardinals.  Magic number for the division is 3.

West:  San Francisco, 1 up on the Dodgers.

Wild-card:  The NL West 2nd place team will host the single game -- that has already been clinched, San Francisco with 97 wins and LA with 96.  

Second WC:  St. Louis has the current lead at 79-69.  Cincinnati is 3 back at 77-73.  Philly is 3 back, pending tonight, at 76-72.  San Diego is 3.5 back at 76-73.

Eliminated:  Miami, Washington, Pittsburgh, Arizona

Tragic Numbers:  NY Mets:  7.  Cincinnati:  11.  San Diego:  11.

Currently:  St. Louis at the Dodgers for the one-gamer.

That winner vs. the Giants with the Giants having the advantage for the Bo5.

Cobb County vs. Milwaukee with Milwaukee with the home-field for the Bo5.

#1 seed:  The NL West winner, in short.  Giants are 5.5 up on Milwaukee, Dodgers 4.5 up.  Milwaukee is 12 up on Atlanta for 2 or the 3 seed, Atlanta has only 15 to play.

Best Record In Baseball:  Giants 1 up on the Dodgers, 5 up on Tampa, 5.5 up on Milwaukee.

And now for the Power Rankings, my view on what Manfred is really looking for:

AL:  

1) Houston, and by a wider margin than I think anyone might otherwise think.

Mainly because I can't see Manfred liking any of the other real possibilities unless the Yankees can yoink a Wild Card spot out.  If they can, they become #2.  Look out.

2) Tampa Bay, for repayment.

And possibly for Title Town USA.  Very real chance that, if the Rays were to get through and win it, Tampa could be champions of all three major sports leagues in which Tampa Bay actually has a team.  This year, not just defending.

NL

1) San Francisco

1A)  Cobb County

2) Milwaukee

3) Getting run over by a truck

I think you get where I'm going here vis-a-vis what Manfred really wants.  The biggest two things Manfred would want is either someone upsetting Los Angeles in the 1-game, or San Francisco gets that home-field for the best-of-5 and uses that park to neutralize the home run power.