Foul Territory

It's a big old weekend in the world of baseball. Actually, the regular season ends Sunday. In the AL West, Oakland and Anaheim will play best two of three to decide who makes the playoffs. It's like extending the playoffs a whole extra week. In the NL West, the Dodgers' magic number is 1, so they control their own destiny. The Giants, who play the Dodgers this weekend can storm into the playoffs with a good showing. The Cubs, while not out of it, have been doing their best Greg Norman impersonation the past week and a half to put themselves in serious jeopardy. The Astros, after having been left for dead a few months ago, have played some good ball to get within striking distance, thus proving the Carlos Beltran trade wasn't all for nought. Obviously, the drama is higher in the NL, as more teams are still in it, compared to the AL, where it's just the A's and Angels. Everything else was sewn up a long time ago. I will tell you this, right now, no one wants to go anywhere near Johan Santana and his magic slider come playoff time.