Sports > September 17, 2003

By Jason Mazda

Assistant Sports Editor

Over the past decade or so, baseball’s popularity has taken a nosedive, partly due to the fact that not enough teams contend each year. This year, however, with less than a month remaining in the season, an amazing 15 of the 30 Major League teams are still in tight races for playoff spots, playing meaningful games. In case you haven’t been paying attention, here’s what is happening and why you should pay attention.

Let’s start with the American League East, and the classic Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Much as I hate to admit the good qualities of anything relating to the Yankees, I must admit this is the most classic rivalry in baseball. This year, both teams have made their already-top-notch pitching staffs better, and both have improved already-nasty lineups. The Sox have recently fallen 5 1/2 games behind in the race, but their remaining games are all against teams with losing records, while the Yanks still have a series against the White Sox, who are in quite a race of their own in the AL Central.

The White Sox currently are 1 1/2 games behind the lovable, low-budget Minnesota squad that started slow but hung in there and, with the help of midseason acquisition Shannon Stewart, has climbed to the top of the division. But nipping at their heels are the Sox, who boast three ace pitchers in Esteban Loaiza, Bartolo Colon and Mark Buehrle, and MVP candidates Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordo