National League Pennant Race - September 19th

By Ian Palmer

With about 10 games to go in the 2014 season the National League Pennant race is heading into the stretch run. There are still a couple of division titles and playoff spots up for grabs as of September 19.

National League West

Over in the NL West, the Los Angeles Dodgers, were hanging onto a 2.5 game lead over the Giants with the San Diego Padres dropping out of the race at 15.5 games back of LA and 11 games behind the wild-card berth. The Dodgers and Giants have both gone 6-4 in their past 10 contests while the Padres were 5-5. It looks like the Giants are still in a great position to reach the playoffs as they have a two-game lead in the wild-card race. According to MLB.com, as of Sept. 19, the Giants had a 99.6 per cent chance at the postseason the Padres given a 0 per cent shot. Fourth-place Arizona and cellar dwellers Colorado are out of it.

National League Central

The Pittsburgh Pirates went 8-2 over their past 10 games to gain some ground on the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals who went 6-4. The Cardinals were hanging onto a 2.5-game lead over Pittsburgh and were six games up on the Milwaukee Brewers who went just 5-5 in their last 10 outings. Pittsburgh owned the second wild-card spot with the Brewers 3.5 games behind them. The fourth-place Cincinnati Reds and fifth-place Chicago Cubs are now out of the wild-card race. Milwaukee was given just a 9.2 per cent shot at the postseason with St. Louis at 100 and Pittsburgh at 90.3 per cent.

National League East

The Washington Nationals clinched the Division title by going 7-3 in their last 10 games and building up a 12-game lead over the Atlanta Braves. Second-place Atlanta could only muster up a 2-8 record and are now in danger of missing the postseason altogether as they’re six games behind the second wild-card spot. The third-place Miami (Florida) Marlins are still barely alive in the wild-card sprint at eight games behind after going 4-6 in their last 10 encounters. The fourth-place New York Mets and fifth-place Philadelphia Phillies all but out of it. Atlanta will now find it very tough to reach the playoffs with just a 0.9 per cent chance.

National League Wild Card Standings