Here we are on Monday and my mind is on Monday Night Football and the Kansas City Chiefs. But we are coming down to the end of the Major League Baseball season and there are a few races worth watching. The National League West is a three-team fight. The American League East is between the Yankees and the Rays and the National League East is a two team race.

MLB has about 142-144 games in the books of the 162 game schedule so there are about 20 games left to play for most teams.

One thing I look at is which teams may lose 100 games and there are a few teams this season who are fighting to keep from triple digit losses. Pittsburgh has lost 94 games. Seattle and Baltimore have lost 88 games each. Arizona has lost 86 and Cleveland has lost 85 and Kansas City has lost 84 games (as of the morning of September 13).

It’s been a long season for these teams, but they won’t beat the 2003 Detroit Tigers. They finished with a record of 43 wins and 119 losses. Not the worst ever, but pretty bad! According to this report, there have been 43 teams that lost 100 games or more since 1973 and the Tigers own five of those seasons.

I happened to catch a Kansas City Royals game this summer and enjoyed the outing. They were playing the St. Louis Cardinals in Kansas City. Kauffman Stadium, where the Royals play, is a very nice facility, but they do not have the team to compliment the facility. The Royals did beat the Cards that night, though.

It would be nice if MLB was more competitive and some of these bottom dwellers could be in the race when we approach late August. Some say the teams that have the larger payrolls are more competitive, but that is not really true. Of course, people will point to the Yankees who have an average salary (on the opening day roster) of $8,253,336 (tops in baseball) and the Pirates have $1,294,185 (lowest in baseball). But if you look at the top 10 list of salaries (HERE) many of the teams in contention this season are not listed.

Maybe it really is the managing…

So, here’s to the teams that are fighting to the end – to keep from losing 100 games.