This might be a little sour for everyone out there, but I think we can all safely say the tribe is out of the race.

That being said, any predictions for the playoffs?

AL
Division Winners:

New York
Detroit
Texas

Wild Card:
Oakland
Tampa Bay

NL
Division Winners:
Washington
Cincinnati
San Fran

Wild Card:
Atlanta
Pittsburgh

WILD CARD WINNERS:
Oakland, Pittsburgh

ALDS:
New York v. Oakland
(NY wins 3-1)
Texas v. Detroit.
(Tex wins 3-2)

NLDS:
Washington v. Pittsburgh
(Washington wins 3-0)
Cinci v San Fran
(Cinci wins 3-1)

ALCS:
New York v. Texas
(NY wins 4-3)

NLCS:
Washington v Cinci
(Washington wins 4-1)

WS
NY v. Washington
(Washington wins 4-2)

Sorry, I don't watch baseball.

That's good.

If you started though, think about following a team listed in my post above.

I would love to see Washington vs Pirates in the WS. But with news that Strasburg won't be pitching in the post season, shocks me. And I'm not sure how well Washington could do without him. But I would love to see them win it all.

I'd love to see Oakland vs. Pittsburgh...probably the worst-rated WS of all time, but talk about a battle of underdogs.

If Pittsburgh wins - I may commit a felony.

I thought about that but I still think their starting pitching is solid enough.

Truth be told I would love to see a team like Oakland make a run.

I'd take a Pittsburgh v Oakland WS.

Cinci v Oakland or Washington v. Tampa would also have a decent story line.

Two expansion teams ever meet in the WS?

I guess the last decade or so has softened me to the Pirates. They're more like the lovable losers who always try hard but are never any good, so to see them do well with a former Tribe exec at the helm isn't such a bad thing to me. I don't even really associate them with that other Pittsburgh team.

My answer to all of those, who cares. I won't be watching any of those games unless there is absolutely nothing else to watch.

I pretty much agree with this. The only team I would root for over Pittsburgh in the WS would be the Nationals, because right now they absolutely deserve to win in my opinion. Their pitching is incredible and downright nasty. And their offense just has something unique about them. With the exception of Bryce Harper, they don't have a single guy that is constantly talked about. No real MVP type offensive guy. But they click, and they click well.

"If Pittsburgh wins - I may commit a felony."

This! time 4

Giving that insufferable city something else to be smug about may just put me over the top.

Nothing against the organization but the fans are worse than Red Sox fans

With a payroll of $50M, Mr. Moneyball (a.k.a. Billy Beane) has performed yet another minor miracle, assembling a team that with six weeks left in regular season is a legitimate contender for the division title, or at least a wild-card berth.

Yep. There are not many (if any) other GM's in baseball who have successfully built, tore down, and rebuilt rosters as well as Billy Beane has. And he's done it all, for the most part, without the benefit of great drafting either. He's made some fantastic low-ball signings (seriously...Bartolo Colon has the 12th best ERA in the AL right now...), a surprising splash by signing Cespedes, and just some absolutely great trades.

Beane remains reigning GM genius. I thought for sure this would be laugher of season for A's. Instead, Beane, as usual, is having last laugh. Signing of Cespedes was surprise -- perhaps even to Beane -- b/c it entailed huge wad of money, and owner Wolff not known for big-spending. I read that one of reasons Cespedes signed with A's is b/c there are so many Latin players on club, and he speaks no English. Also read that A's payroll is lowest in MLB, $50M this season. In light of this, I don't buy the malarkey excuses we hear over and over that Cleveland "can't compete" b/c located in small market. Helps not to have lamebrains in FO. Big U trade already coming back to bite Indians big time.

Yeah a lot of people were under the impression that Beane signed Cespedes so that he could later trade him to further bolster their farm system.

And it's not that Cleveland "can't compete" in a small market. We have competed. But the difference between large market teams (NY, BOS, LA, etc.) and small market teams is that large market teams can realistically expect to compete every single year because of their payroll, which is largely dictated by market size. Small market teams (A's, Indians, Rays, Pirates) simply cannot do this. They have to compete in waves. Build from the farm system, keep your young players as long as possible, and then start the rebuild over again. That's exactly what Beane has done in Oakland. They had great teams in the early 2000's, but as their most talented players aged, they were forced to again tear things down and rebuild, as their major league club was pretty awful from 2008-2011. Now, his roster is again full of young and cost-controlled players. Let's see how long this one lasts and hopefully they'll win him a championship this time around.

Dead-on analysis. Agree with everything you point out re vagaries and vicissitudes visited upon small-market teams. Bottom line is that Beane is just smarter than most, if not all, of his counterparts. Still don't comprehend when he didn't "defect" years ago and become GM in Boston. Instead, they got Epstein, no dummy, to be sure, but no Beane either. Be interesting to see how he fares with Cubs. Talk about "extreme makeover." How long do you reckon Cubs fans give him to turn things around? I say five years max. Maybe then he takes early retirement. :-)

Epstein is a smart, smart guy and I think he has things going in the right direction for the Cubbies. He took over an absolutely abysmal organization and has already done a pretty impressive job bringing talent back into the system. Interested to see what else they pick up when they deal Soriano and some others. Neither GM is without their mistakes. Oakland fans were trying to run Billy out of town a few years ago and Theo really wore out his welcome in Boston towards the end.

I think Beane turned down the Red Sox for a number of reasons. One, I really do believe he is committed to doing something that no other GM can really say they've done, and that is build a consistent winner without the benefit of a top 15 payroll. He makes good money in Oakland as he should (a good GM is often worth more than any one player) and he's the man there. There's a lot of pressure on him because of his payroll contraints, but at the same time there would be a lot more pressure on him in Boston where he would be EXPECTED to win every single year.

One thing that really sticks out to me about how Beane does business is that...when Billy rebuilds, he REALLY tears it down. He commits to rebuilding the franchise fully, and he doesn't care what the Oakland faithful has to say about it, mainly because there are only about 5 of them left. In an extremely small market, that's what it takes.

Amen, amen. How perceptive you are (meaning we agree:-). My surmise is that one reason Beane turned down Boston is b/c of climate. Hard to beat Oakland area for weather. Warmer than SF, not as hot as Contra Costa County cities (farther east) or South Bay (San Jose). Assume you saw movie "Moneyball."

Best thing that could happen to Oakland franchise would be for current tightwad, eye-on-bottom-line owner (in same mold as Dolan) to sell to someone who is truly committed -- as Wolff claimed to be when bought franchise (for piddly $180M) -- to keeping team in Oakland. Contrary to what Wolff repeatedly professes publicly, there is no shortage of sites within city of Oakland to build new baseball-only park. They could build on waterfront and have park similar to AT&T ... and with better weather. Would not need dome.

Does anyone have a read on Indians' scouting program? I'm not impressed with what I've seen, but who knows. From where I sit, 2,500 miles away, it looks pretty dismal. Cupboard is bare, hardly bodes well for near-term future.