A Ruckus Is Brewing Down the Stretch

As of the moment of this writing, the season has oozed within 20 games of its conclusion and a ruckus is brewing for all but two of the 10 playoff spots.

With 7/8ths of the season completed, teams continue to bounce around the standings like Mexican jumping beans. Six American League teams are crossing swords for four spots, with five of them standing within four games of each other. Two more contingents pursue their death struggle for the Central Division crown, separated by two games and 281 highway miles.

The division leads are less fluid in the National League, but three weeks from the end, five teams vie for the last Wild Card, with four games spanning from top to bottom. Two of those five had not just been left for dead, but have been decomposing all second half.

Among those that have already succumbed are two teams that were printing playoff tickets at season's commencement -- Miami and Boston. Among those still in the mix are perennial laughingstocks Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Annual also-rans Oakland have the second best record in the American League, ahead of the sovereign debt-sized payrolls of the Yankees, Angels and Red Sox.

The Central Division-pacing Chicago White Sox, seemingly destined for mid-pack irrelevance in the Spring, are a paradigm of baseball's inscrutable wiles. Four players have catapulted the team from below .500 last year to Tiger-tamers today. Behold:

Player                                         2011 OPS           2012 OPS         2011 HR       2012 HR
A.J. Pierzynski                           .728                     .850                  8                 26
Alex Rios                                    .613                     .834                 13                23
Adam Dunn                                .569                     .825                 11                38

Pitcher                                   2011 Innings      2012 Innings      2011 ERA      2012 ERA
Jake Peavey                               111                       192                 4.92             3.27

The race is on and it's going to be a blast. It's proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.