There are about six weeks to go in the regular season.
This is home stretch for contending teams.
Six weeks usually means one thing: you better be within six games of first in order to have a realistic chance.
Managers know that it is very difficult to catch a divisional leader. The goal is to shave 1 game behind a week to close the gap. The exception to this rule is when you play a leader head-to-head then you can make up more ground. At this point, most divisional leaders do not melt down unless they are killed by major injuries, so the 1 game/week is a fairly reasonable standard.
With six weeks to go in the season, what teams still have a shot at winning a playoff berth?
The Yankees and Blue Jays are outside the threshold at 7 and 7.5 GB the Orioles.
The Tigers (1.5 GB) and Indians (6 GB) are behind the surprising Royals.
The A's and Angels are in a dead heat in the AL West with Seattle 5.5 GB.
The Nationals have widen to a 6 game lead over the Braves.
The Brewers have a 3 game lead on the Cardinals and 5.5 game lead on the Pirates.
And the Giants are 3.5 GB the Dodgers.
16 teams are still in the pennant chase.
By MLB having half the teams still in the hunt, interest in baseball should be strong until mid-September.
