IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY... September 17, 2010

This is why I love the day in and day out of baseball and why, at least in my mind, no sport will ever match it.

Football you have to wait a whole week to see how playoff scenarios can change.

In baseball? Miss a day and you'll see everything shuffle.

As the Twins put the White Sox away (and now are only 1/2 a game back of the best record in all of baseball) the only remote suspense in the American League playoff picture is if the Red Sox can somehow cut their deficit from 6 games. (Let's not hold our breath.)

In the National League? Blink and you'll miss a change. The Braves, Giants, Padres and Rockies are separated by 2 games in the loss column and basically these last 2 weeks will be musical chairs. It won't be who is the best team... just the one that didn't fall apart.

And guess what? Home Field in the first round (and avoiding the Phillies) is probably going to be decided on teams head to head records... which looks good for the Giants and bad for the Reds.

So here are the match ups going into today.

AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES

TAMPA BAY RAYS (AL East Champion)
has home field advantage over
TEXAS RANGERS (AL West Champion)

MINNESOTA TWINS (AL Central Champion)
has home field advantage over
NEW YORK YANKEES (AL Wild Card)



NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (NL East Champion)
has home field advantage over
CINCINNATI REDS (NL Central Champion)

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS (NL West Champion)
has home field advantage over
ATLANTA BRAVES (NL Wild Card)

That will probably change while you are reading this.