by John Osbron

Created on: July 23, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

For the majority of MLB teams today concluded their 100th game of the season. With only 62 games left to go, playoff races are becoming tighter and tighter, with the Angels being the only team with a division lead that is greater than 1.5 games. Everyone has their opinions on who will be in the playoffs and who will miss the dance, and if Cinderella will get to go or not, or even if she will be back home by midnight. Feel free to give me your opinions on who will be there but for now these are my predictions on who will be playing in October.

From the AL East will be the Tampa Bay Rays. An absolute turn around from a dismal 66-96 last place finish that was last year's result, the Rays are loaded with young and also cheap talent in players like Scott Kazmir and Evan Longoria. If they had not let go of Josh Hamilton a few years back they would be all but unstoppable.

From the AL Central will be the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox are another shocker, seeing as their main goal at the beginning of the year was reach .500 now they're reaching for a second WS title in 4 years. With Minnesota their only real threat they will pull away soon enough.

From the AL West will be the obvious choice the LA Angels. They currently hold baseball's best record and have a 9 game lead over second place Oakland. With Anderson and Guerrero in the lineup and Santana and Lackey in the rotation they will be a force to contend with come October.

Filling the Wild Card slot will be the Boston Red Sox. Their upcoming series with the Yankees will be a major turning point in the season and if swept by New York it may be the push the Yanks need to take the Wild Card spot instead but even without Ortiz the Red Sox should be able to put some distance between themselves and the Yankees.

Some long shots worth mentioning are again the Yankees who are only 3.5 out of first at the moment but will have to get past the Red Sox if they want the Wild Card spot. However being 3 games out of the Wild Card spot they have a golden opportunity to either gain or lose a tremendous amount of ground in the race with the upcoming series against the Red Sox at Fenway. They could finish this series tied with the Bosox or 6.5 out. Another team worth mentioning is the Minnesota Twins. The Twins have flown under the radar all season long in the AL Central, the whole time keeping the White Sox within striking distance. They are only 1.5 games out and have a shot and taking over Chicago but it is unlikely.

In the

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