It has nothing to do with Derek Jeter. It has nothing to do with the American League. It has to do with the fact that the Pittsburgh Pirates have managed to achieve a milestone that no other team in the history of professional sports has achieved:
They have posted a losing record for 17 consecutive seasons. Congratulations!
The Cubs helped Pittsburgh put the icing on the cake on Monday afternoon, beating the Pirates 4-2 and handing them their 10th loss in their last 11 games. They've lost more games than they've won every single year since 1993, which beats out the Phillies' 16 straight losing seasons, the Vancouver Canucks' 15 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 14.
Imagine if this happened in Boston. Forget the playoffs for a second. Imagine if the Red Sox failed to emerge above the .500 mark for 16 straight years. There would be bloodshed. It would not be pretty.
"We can't ignore it and say it didn't happen," manager John Russell told The Associated Press. "We're not accepting it. We're making moves to make sure we build a championship team, and we want that to happen as soon as possible."
Getting a little ahead of yourself, Russell? Let's focus on a winning team. Championships can come later.
In any case, the Pirates are probably wishing the season really did end today. Unfortunately, though, they've still got three weeks left. Let the countdown commence.
Playoff Picture
AL East: New York Yankees (89-50)
AL Central: Detroit Tigers (75-61)
AL West: Los Angeles Angels (81-54)
AL Wild Card: Boston Red Sox (79-58)
Breakdown: With the Twins falling all but out of contention for the Central title, the only race on our hands is the one for the wild card. Neither Texas nor Boston played particularly well this weekend — the Rangers dropped two of three to lowly Baltimore and the Sox lost three of four to the White Sox — so even though Boston is still ahead of the pack, it needs to play better or else there's no way Texas won't catch up. Tampa Bay pretty much fell out of the race after losing five straight games — along with slugger Carlos Pena, who broke a finger after taking a CC Sabathia pitch off the hand.
NL East: Philadelphia Phillies (77-58)
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals (82-57)
NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers (82-57)
NL Wild Card: Colorado Rockies (78-60)
Breakdown: The Rockies and the Giants continue to battle it out for the wild card, but the Rockies managed to pull ahead by two games this week as the Giants offense struggled to push runners across the plate. They went 3-3 against the Phillies and the Brewers, batting just .182 with five homers and 12 runs scored. You can do the math.
MVP
American League: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
Sometimes, it's hard to fathom the MVP going to someone on a team that's out of contention for the playoffs. Shouldn't the MVP be someone who puts the team on his back and presses forth? Mauer's team isn't headed anywhere but home come October, but he's gotten as close as he can to carrying it on his back this season, hitting .366 with 26 homers and 80 RBIs. This week, against the White Sox and the Indians, he hit .316, although he had just one hit for extra bases. In 19 at-bats, he struck out just twice.
National League: Albert Pujols
There is no race at this point, as everyone knows. Pujols will prevail again, with his .324 average, 44 homers and 118 RBIs. The Cardinals may be the best team in the National League, and if they are, half of it is because of the pitching staff and the other half is all Pujols. In six games this week, he hit .409 with three homers, eight RBIs, a single strikeout and a 1.344 OPS.
Cy Young
American League: CC Sabathia, New York Yankees
As the weeks dwindle down, more and more hurlers fall out of contention — except Sabathia, who seems to get better, in September, on the best team in the league. This week, he went 1-0, although he should've gone 2-0. He got stuck with a no-decision against Tampa Bay on Monday after throwing seven innings of one-run ball, and earlier this week, he went seven innings and allowed one run on seven hits to Baltimore. Between the two starts, he notched 19 strikeouts. Since the All-Star break, he's allowed more than three runs just once.
National League: Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
San Francisco still has a couple of contenders in Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, but Carpenter had a big week and his Cards are cruising, so he gets the nod. On Sept. 2 against Milwaukee, he went six innings and allowed three runs. On Monday, he threw a complete-game, one-hit shutout at the Brewers, notching 10 K's and lowering his ERA to 2.16. He has the second-most wins in baseball at 16, behind teammate Adam Wainwright.
Rookie of the Year
American League: Nolan Reimold, Baltimore Orioles
If a pitcher doesn't get the award, it's pretty much a two-man race between Chicago's Gordon Beckham and Reimold. Reimold is doing all a rookie can do for a team that hasn't really had anything to play for since June, hitting .277 with 14 homers and 42 RBIs. This week, in five games against the Yankees and the Rangers — two of the best pitching staffs in the league — Reimold hit .444 with two homers, three RBIs, a 1.310 OPS and three K's.
National League: J.A. Happ, Philadelphia Phillies
After appearing in just nine games in the last two years, the Northwestern alum is making the most of being a real big leaguer. He's 10-4 with a 2.77 ERA, and in 149 2/3 innings, he has allowed 46 runs, 17 homers and has notched 104 strikeouts. But this week wasn't his best. In six innings against the Giants, he allowed four runs — including two homers — with seven strikeouts and took the loss.
Weekly Wonders
American League: Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners
On Sunday, Ichiro became the second-fastest player in major league history to earn his 2,000th career hit. He doubled down the right-field line in the first inning of a 5-2 loss to Oakland, his 1,402nd game. He sits behind Al Simmons, who reached the milestone in 1,390 games.
National League: Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers turned their first triple play in 10 years in the sixth inning of a extra-inning win against the Giants on Sunday. Aaron Rowand grounded out to Casey McGehee at third base. He flipped the ball to Felipe Lopez at second, who shot it to Ryan Garko at first. One up, three down. Then, the Brewers won it all in the 12th, when Prince Fielder went deep to put Milwaukee on top 2-1.
