Down the stretch they come!

By Peter Friberg Sports Central Columnist

And down the stretch they come.

Just this past week, I heard an "expert" say, "It's too bad so many of the races have been wrapped up this early."

Huh?

Of the eight races (three divisional races and one wildcard race per league) only three have been wrapped-up.

As of Tuesday night's action, Atlanta has a 11-1/2-game lead on Philadelphia, San Francisco has a 8-1/2-game lead on Arizona, and the Yankees have 6 1/2-game lead on Boston. Rounding out the National League, Houston leads St. Louis by one game and Chicago by 1-1/2-games while Philadelphia leads Florida by half a game, Arizona by 3-1/2-games, three other teams are 4-1/2-back.

In the American League Central, Kansas City has a tenuous one-game lead over the Chicago Cubs and 1-1/2-games on Minnesota. Out West, Seattle leads Oakland by four games while Oakland leads in the AL wildcard by one game over Boston.

For those of you who forgot to keep score, seven of the 14 AL teams still have playoff hopes alive. And in the NL, fully 10 of the 16 teams have at least an outside shot of a division win or wildcard birth.

Yeah, it's just too bad those races are so non-competitive...

The wildcard was instituted in '95, along with dividing each league into three divisions. At the time, Bud Selig's creation was derided by baseball purists. The baseball purists' complaint (that more "less-than-great" teams make the playoffs) is still valid.

A look at last year and we all know that Anaheim, who got to the playoffs as a wildcard, was the luckiest, not the best, baseball team in the land. However, in baseball (with the wildcard), only 26.7% of teams make the playoffs (in the NFL, 37.5% of teams make the playoffs, in the NHL, 53.3% are in, and in the NBA, over 55% make it). Baseball is not in danger of diluting their playoffs the way other sports have. However, by keeping more teams alive later in the season, interest remains higher. (I am not recommending further expansion of baseball's playoff system.)

I think calling the wildcard anything but a success is snobbery.

Another race I want to break down is the NL MVP race.

Appropriately, the pundits are only talking about two candidates -- Albert Pujols and Barry Bonds.

Many members of the baseball writing community are lobbying the fans to get permission to not vote for Barry. We saw this same argument the year Barry hit 73 HR.

"Yeah, but all he does is hit homeruns. He's really not that valuable to his team."

The outcry from fans and stat-head analysts (like me) was immediate and immense. Barry's 2001 season was among the greatest-ever by a hitter.

Likewise in 2003, writers are going back to talking about how bad of a teammate Barry is, how thin-skinned he is, or how because he's so good he hurts his club because teams pitch around him. Huh?

In an article today, one writer pointed out Albert's sizable lead in batting average and RBI as credible evidence that Albert was doing more to help his team than Barry.

While we call position players "hitters," the title belies their job. As other have pointed out, a batter needs to try to avoid making an out -- getting on-base. In 525 plate appearances, Pujols succeeded in avoiding an out -- getting on-base, 230 times (for a .438 on-base average). In 437 PA, Barry succeeded 227 times (for a .519 on-base average).

Let's not forget that St. Louis, because of their great offense, makes more turns through their lineup than San Francisco does. The difference in PA is not solely because Barry has played in 20 fewer games.

Let me say this: Albert Pujols is a phenomenal hitter. If he were not playing at the same time as one of the three or four greatest hitters of all-time (Barry), Albert would definitely deserve the NL MVP. But right now, Barry is doing nothing to relinquish his title. At least six times, Barry was the greatest player in his league. The Baseball Writers of America Association bestowed the NL MVP award on him five only times. This will be the seventh time he has earned the NL MVP. Will the voters make the right call?

Article courtesy of Sports Central.