MLB Weekly

Milwaukee Brewers: The Milwaukee Brewers won the NL Wild Card and made the postseason for the first time in 26 years. Regardless of what happens for the Brewers in the playoffs, the C.C. Sabathia trade has paid off for them, because just making the playoffs is a big step for this team. The Brewers will have to square off against the Phillies in the first round and I think they will have a chance to beat them because of Sabathia and hopefully a healthy Ben Sheets. The key for the Brewers is going to be their hitting, which at times can struggle, but they might pick it up from the excitement of being in the playoffs.

New York Mets: The flip side of the Brewers getting in the playoffs is that the Mets choked away their season once again. The Mets led the NL East by 3.5 games with 17 games to play and ended up missing out on the playoffs completely after finishing the season 7-10. The Mets once again will face an offseason filled with questions about why they didn't make the playoffs. In their defense, it really hurt their bullpen when Billy Wagner went down and the Brewers picking up Sabathia was definitely a boost to that club that the Mets just couldn't match.

AL Central: The AL Central is going to come down to the wire with the Twins and White Sox tied in the loss column and the White Sox squaring off today against the Tigers in a make up game. The Twins were able to sweep their series with the White Sox earlier in the week and that is how the race became as tight as it is right now. If the White Sox win today, then they will square off against the Twins in an elimation game on Tuesday. The winner will go on to play the Tampa Bay Rays.

Mike Mussina: Mike Mussina won 20 games for the first time in his career and became the oldest pitcher to ever win 20 games for the first time. Mussina now has 270 wins and has an outside shot at reaching 300 for his career. However, there was also talk that Mussina might retire, because he feels like he will have to play 3 more seasons in order to reach 300 wins. So it will be retirement or 3 more seasons for Mussina. I personally think Mussina should be a Hall of Famer even if he retires after this season. He was one of the best pitchers of his era and to finish with 270 wins, 2,813 strikouts, a 3.69 ERA, and 122 ERA+ is definitely impressive. Mussina currently ranks 19th all time in strike outs and is tied for 33rd in wins.

Other MLB News:

- Rumor is that the Toronto Blue Jays are going to offer A.J. Burnett a 4 years, $54 million contract. Burnett had one of his best seasons ever this year finishing with an 18-10 record, 4.07 ERA and 231 strikeouts in 221.3 innings. Burnett had career highs in wins, innings pitched, strikouts, and games started.

- Carl Crawford was activated from the DL this week, which was somewhat of a surprise because most believed that he was down for the season after injuring a tendon in his finger. Crawford was only available as a defensive replacement and for pinch running, but he may be ready for Tampa's first playoff series. If Crawford can play then that would be a big boost for the Rays offense, because Crawford's speed definitely is a weapon the Rays could use in their lineup.

- Here's some late news about the Red Sox Josh Beckett. He injured his side warming up and is getting his start pushed back until Game 3. If he's not healthy then that could be a big blow for the Red Sox.

- Detroit Tigers closer Todd Jones has announced his retirement. Jones finishes his career with 319 saves and a 3.97 ERA. His career high in saves was 42 in 2000.

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