WATERCOOLER CHAT: A’S CLAIM AL WEST, YANKEES GRAB AL EAST, NO MORE FLOPPIN

BASEBALL

It all came down to the final day to determine the playoff spots…..

First, the Oakland Athletics found themselves in a position to actually win the AL West.  Prior to the season, everyone thought that either the Rangers or Angels had this wrapped up.  After all, they have the highest payrolls and it looked like these two teams would be battling for the top spot for at least the next 5 years.  So the fact that the A’s had a shot to take this thing was truly amazing.  All they had to do was beat the Rangers one more time.  The Rangers got out to a commanding lead in the first 3 innings, jumping out to a 5-1 start.  But then, back came the A’s.  Their hitting kicked in in the 4th inning, and they rattled off 12 unanswered runs to win the game.  That gave them the AL West the crown and a good momentum push going into the post season.  Oakland 12, Texas 5.

And in the AL East, it came down to one game for the Orioles and Yankees to see which team would take the AL East Crown.  The Yankees hosted the Red Sox and Baltimore was on the road in Tampa Bay.  Baltimore needed the win, but just couldn’t get their bats going against the Rays.  The Rays kept smashing homers, increasing the lead and making themselves hard to catch.  So Baltimore lost pretty badly.  And, to seal the deal, The Yanks wasted no time jumping out to a 5-1 lead against the Red Sox, and never really looked back.  With that, the Yanks won the AL East and earned an instant trip to the second round of the playoffs.  The Orioles will have to make it to the second round as a wild card.  Tampa Bay 4, Baltimore 1.  NY Yankees 14, Boston 2.

BASKETBALL

The NBA has implemented a new system that will penalize flopping.  For reference, “flopping” is when an NBA defender intentionally throws himself on the ground in order to fool the ref into thinking he was fouled.  Unfortunately, some players are so good at this circus job, that they convince the ref that they were fouled in a very pivotal part of the game.  The ref calls the foul and changes the course of the game.  This is why you see so many players complaining to the ref because they are actually innocent of the foul — the guy flopped. The NBA, of course,  didn’t like that, so they have put in a rule that would fine players for taking a dive.  If they are caught guilty of flopping after the game (by review on video) they can face serious financial charges by the league.

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