40-Man Roster

September 1^st marks the call-up date for MLB teams. Each team has a 40-man roster from the beginning of the season but only 25 of those are eligible to play from day one through August 31. As the month of September begins those 40 players are all up with the major league team and can be used during those September games. For some teams it gives them a chance to rest players for the postseason and for others it gives them a chance to see them play for next year.

As we have mentioned already the Cubs (58-79) are playing for next year. However, they are also playing for what we have called the City Championship of Chicago. The White Sox (56-80) are 2 games from being eliminated from their division race. The Cubs have a four game cushion from being eliminated from the NL Central and hold a 2.5 game lead in the City race. The Marlins and Astros have already been eliminated from possibly winning their division. Hang tough Cubbies!

The Orioles (73-63) are slipping in the AL East. They are now 7.5 games behind the Red Sox and sit 2 games back in the Wild Card race. They cannot afford to go on any kind of losing streak this month or we will be talking about them in terms of next year as well.

The Braves (84-53) still own the best record in baseball. They sit comfortably ahead in the NL East by 15 games. That makes their “Magic Number” 11 over the Nationals. Any combination of Atlanta wins and Washington losses that total 11 means the Braves win the East.