Let's be serious for a moment, on this first day of September, and figure out what's left out there, realistically.

The American League is static, and has been for some time. The Rangers locked up the West a long time ago, and for some weeks the Red Sox have been long shots; now they're longer than long shots. Forget about those divisions, and forget about the wild card; all three of those postseason berths are spoken for.

The White Sox are medium shots, at best. But that's something, anyway. We can watch Manny Ramirez, we can pray for Justin Morneau to come back strong, and we can desperately hope that when the Sox and the Twins face off in Chicago, two weeks from now, those three games can't be missed.

The National League has been far from static. One month ago, the Braves and Padres looked like near-locks to win their divisions, while the Cardinals figured to teach those upstart Reds a good lesson in veteran-led pennant racing.

Of course, none of those things have actually happened. The Braves are still ahead of the Phillies, but not by much. The Padres' huge lead has shrunk to just four games over the Giants. And the Cardinals ... Well, what of the Cardinals? They're now seven games out of first place, and it would take a small miracle for them to catch Cincinnati.

The wild card's not a great option for St. Louis, either, as they trail the Giants by 2-1/2 games and the Phillies by four in those standings. There are, it should be said, at least three reasons for optimism: 1) They still have 17 home games, and they've been quite good at home; 2) they've got a better run differential than their wild card foes; and 3) they've got a bunch of superb players having superb seasons. If you went looking for a team that's primed to make a move, you'd probably find a team just like the Cardinals.

Or, at the moment, the actual Cardinals. It just would have been easier for them to make a move if they had to catch just one team. Now they have to catch two.