High 5
1. New York Yankees
Now own best record in AL
2. New York Mets
Neck-and-neck with Yankees
3. Minnesota Twins
Tigers are getting scared
4. Chicago White Sox
Still may not make playoffs
5. San Diego Padres
Look out Dodgers
Low 5
26. Detroit Tigers
Choking away big division lead
27. Baltimore Orioles
Limping toward finish line
28. Kansas City Royals
Playing better ball now
29. Chicago Cubs
Worst record in NL
30. Tampa Bay D-Rays
Pushing Royals for fewest wins
Fantasy tip
Two for you: a pair of hot players likely available on the waiver wire.
Salomon Torres, RP, Pirates: Torres is 7-for-7 in save opportunities in September. Advice: Use Torres at your own risk — opponents are hitting .288 against him, and only once in those seven saves has he pitched a 1-2-3 ninth. That being said, a save's a save, and Torres will likely get several save opportunities over the last two weeks of the season.
Conor Jackson, 1B, Diamondbacks: The second-year Snake is heating up as the season winds down — last week he was 10-for-20 with eight runs and two homers. Comment: The bats of Jackson and Carlos Quentin are two big reasons Arizona told Luis Gonzalez this week that the team won't be bringing him back in 2007. — J.G. Askar
Corner infielder
Well, it's that time of year again. The point in the baseball season when some teams are thinking about the postseason and the rest are thinking about firing their manager.
That's an oversimplification, of course. But not by much.
Remarkably, there hasn't been a single managerial change since the start of spring training. That's rare. But there are more than a half-dozen skippers who could have a boot in the next few weeks.
The most intriguing situation continues to brew in South Florida where the Marlins have been accused of leaking unflattering stories about NL Manager of the Year candidate Joe Girardi. Example: He supposedly refused to attend a team function in spring training, arguing that it wasn't part of his contract.
The bet here is that the Marlins will play it coy, though, in hopes of extracting compensation from the Cubs, the team considered most likely to make a run at Girardi.
Chicago will be looking because Dusty Baker had made it pretty plain that he's fed up with the operation at Wrigley Field, and the feeling appears to be mutual.
The end of Felipe Alou's tenure in San Francisco seems to be a fait accompli, although it would be interesting to see what happened if the Giants' late rush landed them in the playoffs and Alou announced that he wanted to come back.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Frank Robinson has been left dangling by the Nationals. That's nothing new. What has changed is that the franchise now has new ownership, and usually new ownership wants to put its imprint on the team by hiring its own manager.
The American League manager most likely to be unhitched is Seattle's Mike Hargrove. Two Mariners coaches were let go this week and when asked about the Hargrove's status, general manager Bill Bavasi replied: "I'm not willing to discuss any of that."
Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi has been unwavering in his support of manager John Gibbons, but you have to wonder what the future holds after a season in which Gibbons got into embarrassing confrontations with two players, Shea Hillenbrand and Ted Lilly, on separate occasions.
And Texas manager Buck Showalter might be wearing out his welcome owner Tom Hicks hinted as much recently but last night said he supports Showalter. — Paul Hagen, Philadelphia Daily News