Three Up, Three Down: The MLB hot/cold report

The NL races are coming right down to the wire

Later on, I'm going to talk about how drab the American League's playoff race has been. That will be in complete contrast to the roller coaster that has been the National League's run to the postseason. Other than the Braves locking up the NL East last week, every divisional title is still in play. Nothing is set in stone, and we're on the cusp of the final weekend.

The Cubs have only a one-game lead in the NL Central, the Rockies have surged into first place in the West by a game and even though the Cardinals had an extremely disappointing moment this week (more on that later), they're still only a game out of the second and final wild card spot heading into the final weekend.

What I'm saying is that the playoffs are already here in the National League. The atmospheres in Chicago, Denver, San Francisco (where the Dodgers are playing) and Milwaukee will have a playoff feel to them as the Rockies, Cubs, Dodgers, Cardinals and Brewers jockey for position. There's no telling who's going to finish where, which means that we're in for an extremely fun weekend of baseball if you're a neutral fan!

Christian Yelich may have played his way into the NL MVP award

Speaking of the Brewers, one of the reasons why they were popping champagne earlier this week to celebrate their first trip to the playoffs since 2011 was due to the excellent play of Christian Yelich. He's been performing at a high level all season, and when his team needed it the most, he managed to find another gear and helped to push his team over this one particular finish line.

Back on Sept. 17, Yelich became only the fifth player in history to hit for the cycle twice in one season. He continued to tear through the NL Central from that point forward, and this culminated with the St. Louis Cardinals walking him five times in one game. While he didn't add on the home run so that he could match Rougned Odor's achievement from earlier this season, you are absolutely doing something right if you get the opposition to walk you five times in one game.

There are a couple of outside contenders for the NL MVP, but at this point Christian Yelich has to be the favorite to lift the hardware later this fall. He's been a dynamic and exciting addition to a Brewers team that is returning to the postseason, and he could also be the motor behind this team that could enter the postseason as divisional champions if the dominoes fall its way this weekend. And if that happens, then there's really no argument as to whom the MVP should be.

CC Sabathia literally throws away $500,000

On Thursday afternoon, CC Sabathia was presented with one of the most interesting scenarios to come up this season. He had to decide what was more important to him: half-a-million dollars or standing up for a team he may be leaving this offseason by getting petty revenge on a team that he won't face in the postseason.

He decided that the latter was more important. CC Sabathia was only two innings away from triggering a contract incentive that would have netted him an extra $500,000. He was a long shot to reach that bonus, but he was in the midst of a good start and all he had to do was keep on cruising to get that money.

Instead, after the Rays buzzed Austin Romine, Sabathia sent a message to his teammates that he was willing to put their honor above getting his own money. So he beaned Jesus Sucre and lost out on half-a-mil in the process. I am not trying to encourage beanballing, but I am a fan of seeing players stick up for their teammates and there's really no question that Sabathia became a legend in the eyes of that Yankees clubhouse after what he did.

Three Down

The Cardinals literally fell into a defeat

One of the reasons why the Brewers got to celebrate clinching a playoff spot this week is because they did something that's very rare for them — they swept the Cardinals in St. Louis. The last game in particular was a dramatic one that came down to the Brewers nursing a slender lead in the end. The game really should have been tied, if not for an extremely unfortunate moment for the Cardinals.

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, the Cardinals seemingly caught a huge break when third baseman Mike Moustakas made a throwing error to first base. St. Louis pinch runner Adolis Garcia seemed like a lock to score and tie the game, but instead he stumbled as he rounded third base and was easily thrown out at home.

That's normally something that goes St. Louis' way when things are going well for the Redbirds, but this time the baseball gods were smiling down on the Brewers. Milwaukee got to celebrate, and now the Cardinals will be busy battling the Cubs for their own playoff lives.

The spirit of Steve Bartman briefly returned to Wrigley Field

If there is any ballpark where the fans should know better than to interfere with their home player trying to make a defensive play in foul territory, it's Wrigley Field. Cubs fans vilified Steve Bartman for years after his infamous moment during the 2003 NLCS and for a few minutes, it seemed like another fan would join him in infamy.

Anthony Rizzo was trying to make a catch to help lock down a crucial win for the Cubs. But instead, a fan chose to snag a foul ball rather than get out of the way and let Rizzo make what would have been a big catch. The foul ball gave the Pirates new life, and they went on to score two runs to send the game to extras.

This story has a happy ending for the Cubs, though. They won the game in extra innings after Albert Almora Jr. drove in the winning run. That meant that the fan who stole the ball from Rizzo will remain anonymous, and we'll probably all forget about it in a couple of weeks. Still, get out of the way! Is catching a foul ball really worth costing your team a win?

The AL playoff race had absolutely no drama

I've endlessly gushed about the drama and excitement of the National League's playoff race in this space today. What I haven't done is talk about what's going on in the American League. That's because there really isn't anything going on at this point. While there's still potential for a chaotic final weekend in the NL, the AL is kind of just hanging out.

We already know how the field for the AL side of the bracket is going to be set. The Yankees will play the A's in the wild card game at a location that still has yet to be determined. The winner of that game will take on the Red Sox in the ALDS, while Houston and Cleveland will do battle in the other ALDS. So yeah, the only thing on the line this weekend is whether or not the game will be in Oakland or New York. Even then, the Yankees currently have a two-game lead on the A's, so it would take a bad weekend for them and a miracle for the A's to send the wild card game to the Bay Area.

Either way, there's not much to talk about in the American League. That is, there isn't much to discuss right now. That will be a completely different story once the calendar turns to October and the playoffs get underway. This regular season in the AL has basically been one long prelude to what's going to happen in October, with the A's being the only real surprise of the season. Everything else has gone according to plan, and now it's time for all of these juggernauts to collide to determine who gets to play for the richest prize in all of baseball at the end of the month.