The Yanks' Playoff Hope Is Still Alive, But Not By Much

In sports, nothing compares to the last week of baseball. As some of the divisions have already been claimed, the divisions still wide open are always a joy to watch, as the pressure of winning in the crunch time of the season grows on all contending teams.

For the Yankees,crunch time started a long time ago, and as they head into the final week of the season with six games left against the Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros, they're four games back of the Cleveland Indians in the Wild Card race.

Every last game for the Yankees can be considered a must-win game, because if they fail to win even one of the remaining six, they can almost certainly say goodbye to their playoff hopes.

Starting tomorrow in the Bronx, the Yankees open up their most important series of the season -- and their best chance at clinching a Wild Card berth -- with a three-game against the Rays, who currently lead the Wild Card.

Enter play four games behind, the Yankees can't afford to lose any of the three games, as a loss on Tuesday could potentially set them five games back with five left to play -- not exactly good odds.

More so, the Yankees would also need to get some help from the teams currently ahead of them in the Wild Card race, but the strength of schedule for the Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers and Indians are not in the Yankees' favor.

The Indians have two games home games left against the awful Chicago White Sox on Tuesday and Wednesday, then finish their season with four games against the Minnesota Twins. The Royals are in Seattle for three games against the no-so-competitive Mariners starting on tonight, then go to the White Sox for more more easy games to finish the season.

Then you have the Rangers, who had been playing very poorly lately, but still find them selves just 1.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot, with three games against the Astros and four games at the Angels -- two very easy opponents.

At this point, on a scale of 1-10, the Yankees chances of making the playoffs are probably at a two, but if you think about it, a two if still better than a zero. They still have life, but not much left. If they plan in making the playoffs, it's going to take a miracle of a six-game winning streak, along with some, I mean a lot, of help from the other teams involved.

The season ends Sunday in Houston, but the Yankees' playoffs hopes could end a few day before that if they don't start winning now.

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