The Mariners have been playing quite well lately. After another W, Friday night, I sent this gem into the world:
They're not going to finish fourth. They're just going to run out of season. https://t.co/QDY1DfGVJs
— robneyer (@robneyer) September 5, 2015
Of course I swiped that from (supposedly) Vince Lombardi, who (supposedly) said after a rare loss, "We didn't lose. We just ran out of time."
Well, that happens to baseball teams every year. Given another month or two, the 2013 Washington Nationals would have won the division, and the same might well be true of the 2015 Nationals. If the pitchers could stay reasonably healthy, anyway. Since falling below .500 (!) on the 16th of August, the Nats have won 12 of 18 despite Matt Williams' best efforts.
The Mariners haven't been that hot, but they've played well lately and really are better than their record.
Like the M's, the Red Sox were modest favorites to win their division before the season, and instead they've been terribly disappointing. The Sox hit bottom 24 hours after the Nationals did, falling to 52-66 and last place. Since then they've won 11 of 17 and (far more importantly) found a pretty exciting young outfield for next season.
I don't know that any of these teams, given another couple of months, would rocket to the top of the standings. They're probably not as good as we thought they were. But they're also probably not as bad as their records suggest.
