Win or Go Home, by Casey Mitchell

This is Casey Mitchell guest blogging for ST today. 162 games have been played, and it all comes down to tonight for these four teams. In the NL, the Braves and Cardinals take on each other at Turner Field today at 3:00. Atlanta sends Kris Medlen to the mound as they look to win his 24th straight start. That's 23 in a row! He has been incredible this year for them, posting a 1.57 ERA and a 10-1 record , as he broke Whitey Ford's record for the most consecutive starts with a team victory. Not to mention the Bravo's have an extra incentive to win knowing this might be Chipper Jones' final game of his Hall of Fame career. He has not yet said if this in fact will or will not be his last game, but he is a class-act and probably does not want to distract from the game. For the other game over in Arlington, the Rangers take on the Orioles, as both teams had a disappointing end to the season. The O's were in position the win the East, but couldn't pull away with it, however they did not collapse like the Rangers did. Going into a final three game series with Oakland, they were up two games and all they had to do was win one and they couldn't. And that leads me to ask the question, did Oakland really have to celebrate clinching a Playoff birth, when they are two games away from a potential Division Title? Anyway, that game is also played tonight at 5:30, and the winner advances to the NLDS.