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Alex Rodriguez hits two game-tying home runs in the late innings of postseason games. Brad Lidge closes out a game like the Lidge of old (or at least unlike the Lidge of this season). And the Angels make the Red Sox look positively Pawtucket-ish. Clearly, there is some bad postseason karma looking for a new home. Good thing MLB umpires are around.

Capping off a run of mistakes around the league, home plate umpire Jerry Meals, by his own admission, blew a call that prolonged a ninth inning in which the Phillies eventually took a 6-5 lead against the Rockies Sunday night. Then again, perhaps Meals can be forgiven for freezing on a call in a four-hour game played in sub-freezing temperatures.

Buster Olney thinks it's time to bring in mechanical assistance. Back in July, only a slight majority of SportsNation thought replay should be expanded. Has October changed that?

• Vote on NLDS: Will the Phillies close it out? | Vote on ALCS: Yankees or Angels?
• Chat: "Baseball Tonight" analyst Orestes Destrade talks playoffs, 3 ET.

Saints fans like Lcsolja are in a mood so expansive after their Breesy start they could wrap their arms around the Superdome.

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If the Red Sox and Yankees wind up playing in the ALCS, is there a way Brett Favre can throw out the first pitch? Just to see if the world would, in fact, actually implode?

With apologies to debates over whether the Rockies can handle the Phillies' left-handed pitching, or if Clayton Kershaw is ready to be a postseason ace, the prospect of another Red Sox-Yankees clash looms over the postseason as either a return to the best rivalry in sport or as many as seven five-hour nightmares, depending on your perspective.

Are you rooting for another showdown or absolutely anything else?

• Vote: Angels-Red Sox | Dodgers-Cardinals | Phillies-Rockies | Yankees-Twins
• Vote: Pick a World Series winner and how long each division series will last
• Your rankings: Power Rankings | Playoff closers | Big-game pitchers | All-time upsets
• Chat wraps: Buster Olney | Eric Young | Joe Morgan | Rob Neyer | Peter Gammons
• Hall of Fall: Steve Bartman becomes first inductee

Moving on from last night's Favre-less drama in Minnesota, we move immediately to a playoff (now that we're finally allowed to use that word) tripleheader Wednesday. It's a quick turnaround, as the Twins will attest, but SportsNation has been prepping all week by picking the brains of some of ESPN's best baseball writers. Hey, it beats working.

Are the Braves about to get their own Washington bailout in the wild-card race?

As recently as last week, the NL wild card was a done deal in SportsNation's eyes -- 59 percent of voters said the Rockies were headed to the postseason. And now ... well, actually the Rockies remain the overwhelming popular pick to win the wild card. But after loss No. 8 in the their last 12 games, the wild-card lead is down to 3.5 games over the Braves. And guess who the Braves play seven times in the season's final stretch?

Your 100-loss Washington Nationals!

Meanwhile, the Rockies play both the Cardinals and Dodgers down the stretch. And far be it from us to suggest those teams would think of such things, but since one might end up facing the wild card, what's really in their best interests?

• Vote: Excited for Red Sox-Yankees or waiting for Twins-Tigers?
• Your Rankings: Help "SportsNation" (ESPN2, 4 p.m. ET) rank the best everyday players.
• Chats: Jerry Crasnick, 12 ET | Jayson Stark, 1 ET | Peter Gammons, Amy Nelson, 2 ET
• Chats wraps: Keith Law | Baseball America | Rob Neyer | Joe Morgan | Buster Olney

• Vote: How will the Dodgers-Giants series play out in San Francisco?

Baseball sticks by our side all summer long, suffering with us through the heat and humidity, serving up background noise for backyard barbeques. And what do we do when Labor Day arrives? Send it packing for the trophy spouse that is football. We're bad people.

USC-Ohio State and the first NFL Sunday are the weekend headliners, but baseball isn't going away without a fight. Clinging to a two-game lead in the NL West, the Dodgers visit the rival Giants, while the Rockies get the woeful Padres. And fighting for the wild-card, both the Rangers and Red Sox face potential spoilers with winning records in the Mariners and Rays, respectively.

All of which raises an excellent question, as posed by commenter ElGrizzly. If you're a Rockies fan, are you rooting for the Dodgers to sweep and give Colorado acres of breathing room for the wild card, or are you rooting for the Giants to sweep and put the division title up for grabs? Where's Monty Hall when you need him?

• Dodgers still No. 4 in this week's SN Power Rankings | Submit your rankings
• Chat: Jerry Crasnick talks about pennant races and more, 12 ET.

• Your rankings: Which contenders made the wisest moves in baseball's trade market?

Not since fantasy baseball owners haggled through the summer of 2003 have Jim Thome, Jose Contreras and Billy Wagner mattered this much in a trade market.

Of course, even as Thome and Jon Garland headed to the Dodgers and Contreras made his way to the Rockies, their old employer was left with a smoldering reminder of the perils of trading. Alex Rios? Hitting worse than .200 with the team. Jake Peavy? Might not pitch until 2010.

A month ago, voters picked the White Sox to win the AL Central. As recently as three weeks ago, SportsNation still had them neck and neck with the Tigers. Now? Well, at least 58 percent of voters think Ozzie Guillen should keep his job in the Windy City.

• 55 percent of SN thinks Contreras won't help; 72 percent of Colorado disagrees.
• 51 percent of SN thinks Wagner won't help; 61 percent of Massachusetts disagrees.
• Is Jim Thome more a Hall of Fame lock than Manny Ramirez? SN voters say yes.

Perhaps the fans booing Jay Cutler last night in Denver were just frustrated Rockies fans releasing some pent-up anger. Or maybe they just think Cutler is a tool. We're not here to judge. Either way, the NL wild card is proving to be baseball's best drama.

• All-Star break: SportsNation was more surprised that the Giants had a winning record than any of the Mariners, Marlins, Rangers or Rockies.
• Aug. 17: Despite trailing the Rockies in the standings at the time, the Giants were SportsNation's clear pick to win the NL wild card.
• Aug. 24: After the Rockies took three of four from the Giants at Coors Field, they doubled their support in SportsNation and took the vote lead.
• Aug. 31: Turnabout is fair play, with the sweep of the Rockies at AT&T Park restoring the Giants to SportsNation's good -- if fickle -- graces.

In short, about a quarter of SportsNation believes the Giants will win and about a quarter believes the Rockies will win. The rest of us (minus the seven people who still think the Cubs have a chance) have no idea which team will win but will enjoy the ride.

• Your Rankings: Are the Dodgers, Giants and Rockies near the top of Power Rankings?
• Vote: Would a Dodgers-Giants NLCS be better than a Yankees-Red Sox ALCS?
• Chat wrap: Buster Olney on the Giants' offense making for a roller-coaster ride.

• Vote: Which team will win the National League West?

As the immortal Kent Brockman might put it, we salute our new Rockies overlords. Topics for discussion later today may include Dante Bichette's Hall of Fame stubble, Jeff Cirillo's cheery disposition and the misunderstood greatness of Kevin Ritz. We can't stay away from the Rockies, but unlike the Dodgers, that seems to be just fine when it comes to a team most of SportsNation is rooting for in the NL West.

Ryan Spilborghs was Monday's hero, hitting a walk-off grand slam to clinch a four-game series against the Giants. Tuesday, Troy Tulowitzki took his turn, delivering a walk-off single against the first-place (for now) Dodgers.

Tulowitzki leads all shortstops with 23 home runs and trails only Hanley Ramirez in OPS among players at the position with at least 400 at-bats. And by almost any metric, he's one of baseball's best defensive shortstops. But don't take our word on his value (or much of anything else); check out what Buster Olney had to say in chat last week. Then weigh in on whether Tulowitzki is more valuable than a guy in the thick of the AL MVP race.

• Quiz: Can you tell the Colorado Rockies from the U.S. House of Representatives?

It's not like the Colorado Rockies were mired in obscurity before this season. Just two years ago, considerably more recently than, say, the New York Yankees, they played in the World Series. Granted, that worked out only slightly less painfully than the Nuggets pairing Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson, but these aren't the Pirates we're talking about.

And yet even after a 51-22 run since the beginning of June, it's taken a scheduling quirk and a walk-off grand slam to get most people to pay any attention to them. With a three-game series against the Dodgers wedged between two series against the Giants, the Rockies are in the midst of a stretch that may determine their fate. Just in time for us to learn who most of them are.

Todd Helton is a familiar name, and a guy 64 percent of SportsNation feels will end up in Cooperstown, but the rest of the roster? Nine Rockies have played at least 100 games this season, and only 17 percent of voters think they can name as many as five of them.

• If playoffs started now, only five percent of SN would pick Rockies to reach World Series.
• A week ago, SN thought Giants or Cubs would be a more dangerous wild card.
• Two weeks ago, 66 percent of voters expected the Rockies to miss the playoffs.
• Vote: How will this series and the season play out for the Rockies?