Edit:  Ok apparently a similar post has been made, sorry about that.  Was just bored and trying to avoid finals preparation :)

Ok, so many of you probably already were thinking that the Steelers would need to win out to make the playoffs, but I'm just going to show you why it is absolutely necessary, in my opinion.

Basically, the battle for the last AFC Wild Card spot comes down to Houston (5-7), Tennessee (5-7), New York (6-6), Miami (6-6),  Baltimore (6-5 atm), Pitt (6-6), and the current leader, Jax (7-5).

Now there is going to be a lot of opinion in the following, but this is essentially how I see the race unfolding.  Though Houston and Tennessee's upcoming schedules are fairly easy, I'm going to assume that neither team manages to win 4 in a row, and both fall out of the picture with 8-8 records.  Next up is Miami and New York, both of whom have fairly tough upcoming schedules.  Though you could make a case for New York going 3-1 (TB, ATL, IND, CIN), I see them losing to both Indianapolis and Cincy, leaving them at 8-8.  Miami has Jax, Tenn, Houston and closes against us.  I have them losing to us and Tenn at least, leaving them 8-8 at best.

So now I've pretty much narrowed this down to a three horse race; Jax, Baltimore, and us.  Let's start with Jacksonville.  They have Miami, Indy, NE, and Cleveland.  That game against Miami (in Jacksonville) is going to be huge.  If Miami can win then we can essentially take the Jags out of the picture I think, as I don't see them beating NE or Indy.  With a win over the Browns they'd finish at 8-8, making this now a two horse race.  If they beat Miami, they'll likely finish at 9-7, and they'd own the conference record tiebreaker against us.

Ok, so lets assume the Jags finish 8-8 and look at the Ravens schedule.  At GB tonight, home for Lions and Bears, at Pitt, and finsih at Oakland.  If GB wins tonight like I think they will, and we take care of business at home against them (which we'll need to for the sake of this argument), then the ravens probably finish the year 9-7, picking up their final three wins against Detroit, Chicago, and Oakland.  These following events would also give the Ravens a 7-5 conference record and 3-3 division record.

Now lets finally look at our schedule.  At Browns (W), home for GB (L), home for Ratbirds (W), at Miami (W).  This is how I see it unfolding anyway.  These events would leave us at 9-7, with 7-5 conference record, and a 3-3 division record; exactly the same as the Ravens. 

So with the head-to-head, conference record, and division record tiebreakers settling nothing, next up is the common games record.

Baltimore and our common opponents were:  Cincy, Cleveland, KC, SD, OAK, CHI, DET, MIN, DEN and GB.  If I added these up correctly and my predictions are correct, our record in these games will end up being 6-6.  The Ravens' will end up being 8-4, therefore handing them the tiebreaker.  (Remember none of this tiebreaker stuff matters for us if the Jags go 9-7)

So, in conclusion, unless the Ravens manage to lose to one of Detroit, Chicago or Oakland, 9-7 will not cut it for us and the Ravens will end up heading to the playoffs.  (Side note, if the Ravens do manage to beat GB tonight, but lose to Oakland, we will win the conference record tiebreaker. Unless we consequently lost to Miami while beating GB.)

Obviously, anything can happen in the NFL, as we've seen with recent losses to KC and OAK, but counting on the Ravens to commit similar follies would be foolish in my opinion.  So basically, pray to god that GB wins tonight and that we can find a way to in turn beat GB in a couple weeks and run the table.  I think we can handle the rest of our schedule if we can find a way to right the ship on defense, but that GB game is going to be what decides our season in my opinion.  10-6 gets us in. 

Go Steelers!

(Like I said, a lot of opinion in here...feel free to disagree!)

Rotowire -

Swisher does not currently have an everyday place in the lineup with the Yankees, the Westchester Journal-News reports. Barring a trade -- of either himself or one of the team's outfielders -- Swisher will likely be seeing time in right behind Xavier Nady, left when Johnny Damon needs a day off and in center if Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner struggle. The Yankees have expressed a willingness to keep him around if they don't receive a suitable offer, so he may have to way for an injury to create an opportunity for more at-bats.

Wow.  I find it hard to believe that Swish is really going to sit on the bench all year long, something has to give right?

I figured either he or Nady (or Cabrera I suppose) would be gone by now.  Think the Yankees are asking for too much, or are teams legitimately not interested in any of them?

Westchester Journal-News

Yahoo's Tim Brown with the scoop.

Apparently it's a one year, 5 million dollar deal.

Is that still out of our price range?  I thought that the speculation was that if we could shed half of Washburn's salary ($10 mil?) we might have had room for Abreu, back when he was looking for $8-10 mil.

Either way, seems like a hard deal for us to pass on.  I'm sure the Angels have more appeal to Abreu though, seeing that they are division favorites.

From ESPN.com. (Matthew's Note: Please include links when you copy and paste from other sources)

Triunfel opened a lot of eyes in the Arizona Fall League as the circuit's youngest player, showing tremendous natural aptitude for hitting and more than adequate fielding at second base. Triunfel sets up with his hands high, and they're so quick that he closes to the ball in no time, hitting line drives to all fields but rarely trying to pull the ball out, even though he probably could at the cost of some contact. Triunfel's performance this year was more impressive than it looks at first glance. For one thing, he started the year 3-for-39, then hit .307/.355/.433 the rest of the way, a period that included a suspension for violating team rules and a 3-for-46 stretch in June. For another, he was 18 in high-A, a level generally populated by players in their early 20s, and not only did he perform well, but he rarely struck out, a good sign that he was rarely (if ever) overmatched. He's an above-average runner and a good base stealer. He's a natural shortstop but played second in the Fall League, showing good hands and a good transfer on the double play.

There are some concerns on Triunfel. The suspension is one, his age is another. His listed date of birth is Feb. 27, 1990, which would mean he'll play all of 2009 at age 19, but as a Dominican prospect who's already put together physically, some have questioned his age. If he's really about to turn 21, he's still a good prospect, but not a potential star. There's no firm evidence to back up the questions, though, so for now, we'll assume he's going to turn 19 and is still on track for stardom.

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New York Post

"In a move designed to boost the Yankees' sagging offense, the team today will demote Melky Cabrera to the minors, waive Richie Sexson, and promote Brett Gardner and Cody Ransom from Triple-A, The Post has learned.

Sexson was brought in with the idea of giving the Yankees a better attack against lefty pitching. But the dramatic holes in the first baseman's swing made him too easy an out.

Sexson had 28 at-bats as a Yankee, hitting .250 with one homer. He did hit .273 in 22 at-bats vs. lefties. But with Nady and Ivan Rodriguez now here, the Yankees must feel they have more righty options and wanted the roster flexibility and decided to subtract Sexson."

Huh.  Does anyone else give him a shot this year?  

He hit 250/.371/.393 overall for the Yankees and .273/.393/.455 vs. lefties.