It Comes Down to This

For the first time in baseball history the Division Series will see all four series' go to a decisive fifth game.

The San Francisco Giants completed an improbable comeback yesterday in Cincinnati, taking three straight on the road and enabling them to reach their second National League Championship Series in three years. In the Oakland, the Detroit Tigers ended the A's Cinderella season by riding the arm of Justin Verlander all the in the American League Championship Series.

With that there is four teams left fighting for the final two spots in baseball's version of the Final Four.

Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees
Tonight in the Bronx will be the 23rd time this season these two teams play one another with the first 22 being even as can be, 11 wins each. It's only fitting that two teams that battled all year for a division crown will have one game between them to decide the fate of their season, not to mention the fact they will win the season series.

Alex Rodriguez's struggles have forced
him to the bench in Game 5.

The biggest news heading into Game 5 is the decision of New York manager Joe Girardi to sit a struggling Alex Rodriguez in the most the team's most important game all season.

Rodriguez's postseason struggles, not only this season, but throughout his career, have been well documented. Many believed he exercised those demons when he hit .365 with six home runs and 18 RBIs in the 2009 postseason en route to his first World Series title and New York's 27th in franchise history.

However, he has made the last out in each of the last two Yankee seasons and hasn't hit a postseason home run in 79 at-bats. His last coming in the 2009 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The decision shouldn't come as much of a surprise after Girardi decided to pinch-hit for the 14-time All-Star in each of the last two games with the game on the line. Rodriguez has two hits in 16 at-bats this postseason with nine strikeouts. He does not have a hit against a right-handed pitcher and is the main reason why Girardi elected to sit him against Baltimore's Jason Hammel.

But in a way it's a double-edged sword for the simple fact Rodriguez has hammered Hammel throughout his career. In 22 career at-bats against the 6-foot-6 righty from Greenville, Rodriguez has eight hits, four in which have left the yard. That is a .364 average.

Veteran Eric Chavez, who started 50 games at third base this season when Rodriguez went down with a broken hand, will start in his place and bat ninth.

Chavez has only faced Hammel six times in his career with one hit, but that one hit just happened to be a home run.

Rodriguez isn't the only Yankee struggling to find his stride, in fact some players have been worse. Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher are a combined 3-for-31 with 12 strikeouts and only one run drive in. But with Andruw Jones left on the playoff roster and Brett Gardner has all of three at-bats since April 17, Girardi doesn't have another viable option in the outfield like he does with Chavez at third.

Cano is hitting just .111, but has driven in four of the 11 Yankee runs this series.

All that being said, as the old cliche goes, momentum is only as good as your next day's starting pitcher and New York wouldn't have any one else on the mound tonight in the Bronx. Girardi gives the ball to CC Sabathia after a stellar, 120-pitch performance in Game 1 of this series. Sabathia is 5-0 in six career ALDS starts and 8-3 in the postseason since joining the Yankees prior to the '09 season.

For the Orioles, their offense has struggled just as much.

Jason Hammel was the Orioles best pitcher
much of the first half and they need him
to be that in Game 5.

Adam Jones, who many believe is a dark horse in the AL Most Valuable Player discussion, and Matt Wieters are both batting just over 100 and have to drive in a run. Jones just .105 (2-for-19) and Wieters at .118 (2-for-17). Mark Reynolds and rookie Manny Machado are among the two Baltimore regulars that are batting under .200.

Nate McLouth has really carried the Orioles offense in this series with 11 total bases and a team-leading five RBIs. McLouth is also the only member of Baltimore starting eight that has a batting average over .300 (.318).

But the Baltimore pitching staff has kept the Yankee bats at bay which continues to be the best way to counter a struggling offense. The Orioles starters have posted a 1.85 earned run average through the first four games of the series, but really it has been the work of Buck Showalter and his bullpen that tell the story.

Aside of their All-Star closer Jim Johnson struggling in two of his four outing against New York and allowing six runs (five earned), the bullpen has been nails. Showalter has used six other arms out of the 'pen outside of Johnson and they have tossed 13 brilliant innings. In those innings they have allowed just one earned run and that of course being Raul Ibanez's walk-off home run in the 12th inning of Game 3. Their ERA is a video game-like 0.69 with 13 strikeouts and only have allowed 12 base runners (seven hits, five walks).

Ten different times the Orioles caught the Yankees in the standings during the regular season, but never let them pass them. Even this postseason, every time the Yankees have won a game, the Orioles have come back with a victory. Is today the day they finally pass them?

I guess we'll find out.

BAL X-Factor: Adam Jones
NYY X-Factor: Curtis Granderson

NYY wins, 4-2