E-Mail This Article to a Friend Baseball’s pennant races approach the three-quarter pole BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

By the end of this weekend, only about a quarter of MLB’s regular-season will remain. Just a handful of divisional races can already be considered locked up, and where that’s not the case, unfortunately mediocrity rules the roost. Today we’ll examine the National League in mid August; on Monday, the American League.

NL East. Back in early June, this race was baseball’s best. At that time, all five of the East’s teams were above .500, and all were within two-and-a-half games of each other in the standings. Well, 10 weeks later they’re all still sporting winning records, and four of the five squads are within a measly game-and-a-half of one another. One thing, however, is different: the Braves have pulled away and have put some space between themselves and the other contenders in the division as they look to capture their 11th-straight divisional crown. The Choppers were a so-so 33-32 back on June 15, but since then they’ve gone off on a 33-17 tear to seize control, and their six-game lead seems comfortable given their history and their solid pitching. Amazingly, every other team in the division has a better record than the NL West–leading Padres, so the league’s wild-card rep could very well come from the East. But the Phillies (60-55) will miss the leadership of Jim Thome, lost to season-ending elbow surgery; the Marlins (59-55) have been playing .500 ball since June 1 despite the league’s best offense; the surprising Nationals (59-55) have gone a miserable 7-21 in the last month (and suddenly sport the NL’s worst offense); and the Mets’ (58-56) bullpen woes and mounting injuries will likely hamper their efforts to become a factor.

NL Central. Most of us considered this race over once the Cardinals built a commanding 13-game lead in July, and for all intents and purposes it is over. At 73-42, the Redbirds are once again the class of the division and the league. Last year’s pennant-winners also upgraded on a number of fronts during the off-season to put themselves into exactly this position: the best NL team and one that can ultimately compete with the AL powerhouses. The injury-ravaged Cubs, despite the league’s second-most-potent offense, have long faded from view as a contender, so it’s the red-hot Astros — given up for dead just eight weeks ago — who have supplanted Chicago in the division’s runner-up spot. Back on June 4, Houston was 20-34 and in last place (15.5 games back). Since then, the pitching-strong-but-feeble-hitting Astros have bounced back to go 42-18, and though they’re still 10.5 games behind St. Louie, they’re in the driver’s seat for the wild-card berth should the NL East teams continue to cancel each other out. Ageless Roger Clemens (11-4) may not win an unprecedented seventh Cy Young this season, but his 1.38 ERA is downright unfathomable. With a rejuvenated Andy Pettitte (10-8) and Roy Oswalt (14-9) flourishing with the Rocket in the rotation (and 28-save closer Brad Lidge seamlessly wrapping things up at the end), nobody wants to face Houston in a best-of-five come October. The Brewers (56-59) haven’t been near .500 this late in the season for many moons, but they’re 17 games back and have no shot — ditto the hexed Cubbies (55-60). The lowly Reds (52-62) continue to embarrass, and the Pirates (49-66) are in their customary basement apartment.

NL West. Doesn’t anybody want a free pass to the playoffs? Someone? Hello? Entering the weekend, the first-place Padres are just two games over .500, but that’s still good enough for front-runner status. If San Diego were in the East, they’d be in the cellar, and if they were in the Central, they’d be 15 games back. But lucky them — they’re in a division where everybody’s stinkin’ up the joint, and that includes the better-than-expected D-Backs (55-61, just four games back), the disappointing Dodgers (51-63, thanks in part to a less-than-stellar 8-11, 3.97 ERA contribution from free-agent pick-up Derek Lowe), the Bonds-less Giants (49-64), and the pathetic Rockies (44-71, heading for the woebegone franchise’s first-ever 100-loss season). Somebody out of this division will shout "Meet Me in St. Louis" once this debacle of a divisional race is done, but that subsequent trip to America’s Heartland will likely be short and sweet.

Potential post-season match-ups. San Diego at St. Louis; Houston at Atlanta. Prediction: a humdinger of an NLCS, with division mates St. Louis and Houston knocking heads for the second straight season for the right to head to the Fall Classic. (An FYI: the Cards have won nine of 11 against the Astros thus far this season, including all six played at the soon-to-be-shuttered Busch Stadium.)

Tune in Monday for the AL glance.

"Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com.