Down to the Wire

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Sep 29, 2004 11:37PM

We're now well into the last week of baseball's regular season, and there are still a whole pack of teams fighting for that lone NL Wild Card playoff spot, with the Cubs thick in the middle.

Following today's 4-3 12-inning loss to the Cincinnati Reds, the Cubs are 1/2 game behind the San Francisco Giants and tied with the Houston Astros. The San Diego Padres sit 3 games back of the Giants -- with San Fran and San Diego playing each other later tonight. Will the Giants be able to gain ground on the Cubs, or will they fall back into a tie and let the Padres gain ground? It's verrrry tight with only 4-5 games left.

All teams will wrap up their current series tomorrow before the final series of the season start Friday. The Cubs host the NL East champion Atlanta Braves -- an unlucky draw! Giants play the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, who still face the slim possibility of losing the division to the Giants since they're only 3 games up in the standings. Houston faces the lowly Colorado Rockies.

Chicagoist should learn from our past mistakes, but we're still going to make our playoff prediction -- we see the Giants winning the NL Wild Card because they'll get fired up for their big rival this weekend. The Cubs will head home without any playoff run this year.

But cheer up Chicago sports fans! The Bears are playing... errr... The Blackhawks' season is about to ... oh, yeah the lockout... the Bulls?... well, spring training's just around the corner.