Crabcakes and Baseball - That's What Division Series Are All About

It took five games for the Tigers to outlast the Athletics, and it took five games for the Giants to stage a backs-against-the-wall comeback against the Reds.  Friday night, the Orioles will attempt to take down the Yankees at home, and the Nationals will try to use their own home field advantage to wipe out the defending World Champion Cardinals.

The Reds won their first two games against the Giants in San Francisco, but went winless at home -- where they went 50-31 in the regular season -- for the remainder of the series to fall 3-2.  The A's, fresh off a walk-off win in the ninth inning of Game 4, could only muster four hits without a run against the indomitable Justin Verlander to fall 6-0 in Game 5, and 3-2 in the series.

But onto Friday.  The Orioles have never lost a series in New York, and tied the season series at 9-9.  They'll send Jason Hammel into the trenches against Yankees ace CC Sabathia.  Neither team has gotten their offense going, with players like Matt Wieters, Adam Jones, Jim Thome, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher all hitting under .200 for the series.  I like the Orioles here, though.  The Yankees have looked sluggish at home, and if the O's can get an early run on the board, that should be all the confidence they need.

Just south of Baltimore, Washington will try to advance using their "October Natitude."  I agree, its one of the worst postseason slogans, but whatever gets the people going.  Riding the coattails of Jayson Werth's walk-off home run, their momentum coupled with Gio Gonzalez on the hill should bump them past the Cards with ease.

Underdog stories are few and far between in baseball.  The A's have already been bounced, with the O's and Nats trying to play Cinderella this year.  Last season, the Cardinals barely squeaked in to win it all.  Thinking back before that, however, you'd have to go to the Rays in 2008, when they beat out the defending champion Red Sox.  They couldn't get 15,000 people to Tropicana Field on a given night, but then the postseason came, the place was filled to the catwalks, and I was hearing cowbells for the next week and a half.

They eventually lost to the Phillies for the World Series, but in my opinion, baseball has never been on the stage it is on this year.  The NHL is in a lockout, freeing up fans' evenings as the season should be underway.  Cities like Oakland, Baltimore and D.C. have turned out in full force to support their teams like never before, filling up their respective parks.  If there would be any games to watch this postseason, it will be the games tonight.

Oh Happy Day! Teddy Roosevelt Wins Presidents Race!

The Nationals have had the Presidential Race 533 times before Wednesday. In its 534th running, the impossible happened.

President Teddy Roosevelt finally captured his first victory in the competition.  He was helped by a masked vigilante dubbed "The Fake-natic," a spinoff of the Phillies mascot, who the Nationals were playing Wednesday afternoon.  Could this be a sign of good things to come in the Nationals postseason future?  They locked up home field advantage with their win today, so if Roosevelt can pull a few more out, who knows how far this team may go.

Check out the remarkable comeback below.

Bryce Harper Can't Celebrate With the Older Boys

The Washington Nationals clinched the National League East division with a loss to the Phillies when the Braves also lost to the Pirates on Monday night.  The last time the franchise won the division, whether in Montreal or Washington?  1981.

Players in the locker room donned their playoff hats, shirts and snorkel masks when the news was official, and cracked open countless bottles of champagne in celebration.  One player was noticeably absent from the festivities, however. 

Only 19-years-old, Bryce Harper could not partake in the shindig, and instead celebrated with first baseman Adam LaRoche's 9-year-old son, Drake, according to The Washington Post.  The two celebrated in a separate room, spraying apple cider.

Joe Maddon Still Won't Own Up to Anything

No one is questioning Rays' manager Joe Maddon's baseball knowledge.  No one is that stupid.  Instead, what should fall under the microscope is how Maddon treats his players and treats the game.

In late May, the Red Sox and Rays squared off at Fenway Park after a few pitches found their way into batters.  The Rays were the first team to throw at a batter, but when the Sox followed suit, Maddon called them out, saying it was a "really week, cowardly effort on their part."

Tuesday night, the Rays were in our nation's capital for a series with the Nationals.  Late in the game, Rays reliever Joel Peralta took the mound, and shortly thereafter was surrounded by umpires.  Nationals manager Davey Johnson asked crew chief Tim Tschida to check Peralta's glove for pine tar, which he did, and found "a significant amount of pine tar."  Peralta was ejected from the game, and will probably serve a suspension. Despite this, the Rays held on for a 5-4 victory.

So what's got Joe Maddon's panties in a bundle?

"'Insider trading, man. It's bush,'' Maddon said. ''It's bogus. That's way too easy, right there.''

Peralta was a member of the Nationals in 2010, so naturally, the Rays believe it was some disgruntled teammate who leaked the news.  What's really bogus?  The fact that Maddon nor any of his players will own up to their mistakes -- own up to cheating or to playing dirty.  Peralta made himself look totally innocent after the game, though...

"'That's a glove that I use for batting practice every day,'' he said. ''I'm every day playing catch with it, it's hot here - that's all I'm going to say about it.''

Free this man!  How did Maddon respond?  By saying that every player cheats, that his team is not the only team, and that the game essentially has no integrity anymore.

"They use it on bats all the time, hitters are able to use it when they go up to home plate.  I'm sure there's times when the ball is thrown around the infield, it can come back a little bit more sticky that before.  It just happens."

False.  Then Maddon went even further to make himself look like an idiot when Tschida told him he was allowed to check one player on the Nationals.  He chose Ryan Mattheus, and the results came back negative.  At this point, you'd think Maddon would come around and just shut up about the whole thing, but no -- seems like this will go on for a while.

"I promise you one thing, you're going to see brand-new gloves throughout the major leagues starting tomorrow, with pitchers on every major league ball club.''